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At Environmental Standards Scotland, ESS, our job is to scrutinize if Scottish public bodies are complying
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with environmental law and assess whether the law and how it is implemented is effective. By doing so,
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we aim to help Scotland meet its ambitions for our climate, nature, and human health. This past year has been a
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significant one for ESS. We published our new strategy setting out how we will work for the next 5 years including new
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priorities for our proactive work and updated measures to assess our impact.
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This was set against the backdrop of significant legislative and policy developments, notably the Natural
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Environment Scotland Act 2026 and the publication of Scotland’s climate change plan. We were pleased to provide
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feedback to Scottish Parliament committees on both.
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We continue to receive representations from members of the public on a wide range of environmental concerns.
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We worked with public bodies to address these concerns through informal resolution, including issues relating to incineration capacity and Nature Scots duties as a statutory consultee.
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We also concluded our case on Ramsar, helping to strengthen protections for Scotland’s important wetlands.
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Elsewhere, we published an analytical paper examining whether marine protected areas could contribute towards good environmental status and held the
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Scottish government to account on its commitment to review the code of practice for invasive non-native species. And finally, we contributed to
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12 policy consultations or calls for views on topics including the draft circular economy strategy and environmental protective expenses
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orders. You can find out more about our work and how to get in touch at environmentalstandards.scot.
