Molly Scott Cato

MA (Oxon.) in politics, philosophy and economics
MSc (Open) in social research methods
PhD (Wales) in economics

Molly Scott Cato is Professor of Green Economics in the Business School. She is a green economist who is also well-known in the field of co-operative studies and researchers sustainable finance. She was a Green MEP for South West England and Gibraltar from May 2014 until January 2020. She has since rejoined Roehampton University on a fractional contract.

Molly's first area of work is into the green economy, addressing the question of how we might design and organise an economy that fits comfortably within planetary limits and achieves social justice. To this end she undertakes a critique of the monocultural global economy and proposes instead a system of self-reliant local economies, within the over-arching framework of a bioregional approach to provisioning.

Her second main area of work is to explore the sustainable finance policy agenda. Building on her work as an MEP, she is exploring how mandatory disclosure and sustainability indexes can help to shift finance to supporting the sustainability transition.

Her third area of work involves critiquing the existing monetary system and suggesting sustainable and stable alternatives. The link between the growth imperative that drives the environmental crisis and the debt-based nature of the existing money system is a central tenet of green economics.

As a former MEP Molly is now expert on the legislative process of the European Union and the Brexit process, especially the economics and trade aspects.

Molly has published widely and in a range of different outlets. Most recently she published a book on Sustainable Finance with Springer and she preciously co-authored a textbook Introducing a New Economics. The second edition of her Environment and Economy was published in September 2020.

PhD students

Molly's current PhD student is Chiharu Narikiyo whose research project 'A critical analysis of the development of an ethical stock: How green is this green giant?' explores the sustainability impact of Unilever.

She has previously supervised five students to completion including:

Barry Pemberton: Governance in the UK civil nuclear power industry.

Rodrigo Silva da Sousa: The Construction of Risk: How 'actors' construct the concept of 'risk' in practice

Viktorija Mano: The vulnerability of a small open economy in a situation of global fiscal crisis: The impact of the Greek debt crisis on the FDI in Macedonia

Paola Rafaelli: Defining the Solidarity Economy in the UK and Argentina

• the green economy
• the economics of the climate crisis
• the bioregional economy
• economics of Brexit
• sustainable finance
• monetary and banking systems, regulation and supervision
• theory co-operatives and social enterprises

Molly is a member of the Association of Heterodox Economists. She coordinates the Roehampton Climate Network and represents the University on the Universities COP26 Network led by Imperial College. Molly is also involved in the Degrowth Movement and a member of the Community Economics Research Network. Molly is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Movement.

Molly is available to advise businesses on reducing their carbon footprint and adapting to climate change. As a former European policy-maker she is able to support local businesses through the Brexit process. She can also advise on legislative changes in the area of sustainable finance.