[1] SCOPE's members include 38 national science academies and research councils, and 22 international scientific unions.
SCOPE exists primarily to develop scientific reviews of key environmental issues around the themes of managing societal and natural resources, ecosystem processes, and biodiversity, health and environment.
[3] In 2012, SCOPE and Elsevier established a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal, Environmental Development.
Every second year the Lifetime Achievements Award is given to two scientists with major contribution to the environmental sciences.
SCOPE has through the years developed a close collaboration with United Nations organizations, in particular UNESCO and UNEP.