An overview of Environmental Standards Scotland's work in the 2025/26 financial year
At ESS, we are working to ensure Scotland’s people and nature benefit from a high quality environment and are protected from harm through improved compliance with and better implementation of effective environmental law.
From the publication of our new Strategy, to work on incineration capacity and Ramsar, it has been a significant last financial year for us at ESS. Watch our short animation to see some of our key highlights.
Video Transcript
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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.