OSCR Scottish charity profile

Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland

Known as ERCS

ActiveCharity number SC050257
Registered3 July 2020
Main locationCity of Edinburgh
Legal formSCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation)

01 Identity

Scottish charity record

Snapshot 4 November 2026
OSCR charity number
SC050257
Status
Active
Regulatory type
Standard
Designated religious body
No
Geographical spread
Operations cover all or most of Scotland
Volunteers
1-50 volunteers
Staff
10
Postcode
EH22PR

02 Purpose and work

What the charity exists to do

Our vision is of a Scotland where everybody's right to a healthy environment is respected, protected and secured. Our mission is to assist everyone, especially people who face the biggest barriers, to exercise their rights in environmental law and to protect the environment. Our four work areas take a human rights-based approach and reinforce each other to close the gap between policy and practice: • Rights awareness and outreach to increase understanding of environmental rights and how to exercise them • Legal advice and representation to enable action on holding public authorities and polluters to account and increase access to justice • Strategic / public interest litigation to enforce environmental laws and strengthen the rule of law • Advocacy in policy and law reform to reduce barriers to access to justice and improve environmental laws.

Charitable purposes

  • the advancement of education
  • the advancement of health
  • the advancement of citizenship or community development
  • the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation
  • the advancement of environmental protection or improvement

Beneficiaries

  • No specific group, or for the benefit of the community

Activities

  • It carries out activities or services itself

Constitutional objectives

The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland will, through public education, advice, assistance and representation, advocacy in policy and law reform and strategic public interest litigation, fulfil the following charitable purposes: * the advancement of human rights, specifically the right to a clean and healthy environment - by raising the public's awareness of and ability to exercise their procedural rights of access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters, and by promoting a fairer distribution of environmental benefits, burdens and responsibilities. * the advancement of environmental protection and improvement - by providing our services to individuals, community groups and organisations with the same purpose, and by seeking to improve the quality and accountability of environmental decision-making. * the advancement of health - by raising awareness of the detrimental impact of poor environmental quality on health outcomes, and by challenging environmental decisions which harm human health and may exacerbate health inequalities. * the advancement of citizenship and community development - by raising awareness of and working with individuals, community groups and organisations to exercise their rights in environmental law and to engage more fully with the land-use planning and legal systems. and * the advancement of education - by providing information and educational resources to increase the public's knowledge and awareness of environmental law and of their rights under environmental law. The Organisation understands environmental law to include law relating to land-use planning, climate change, pollution control, environmental health, the conservation of biodiversity and cultural heritage, and any other field (e.g. transport, energy) to the extent that it impacts on the natural environment in Scotland.

03 Annual returns

Income and expenditure history

5 periods
Year endTotal incomeDonationsCharitable activities incomeTrading incomeInvestment incomeOther incomeTotal expenditureRaising fundsCharitable activities spendingOther spendingStaffReturn received
31 March 2026£439,062£0£0£0£0£0£467,263£0£0£0107 October 2026
31 March 2025£440,205£0£0£0£0£0£367,484£0£0£01022 October 2025
31 March 2024£339,049£0£0£0£0£0£254,583£0£0£01022 October 2024
31 March 2023£235,883£0£0£0£0£0£187,679£0£0£01023 October 2023
31 March 2022£208,001£0£0£0£0£0£118,084£0£0£01026 October 2022

Figures are those reported by the charity and supplied in the OSCR bulk download. Blank facts remain distinct from zero.

04 Contact record

Principal office or trustees address

Address supplied to OSCR
Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, Thorn House, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh
Website supplied to OSCR
www.ercs.scot
Parent charity
Scottish Environment LINK (until 01 July 2021) · SC000296
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No direct external links on this profile. The official OSCR record and source documentation are available through BritDB’s dedicated source page.

05 Provenance

Source for this profile

© Crown Copyright and database right 2026. Contains information from the Scottish Charity Register supplied by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. BritDB is an independent service and does not claim to be the Scottish Charity Register.