Rather than contributing to the proliferation of ad hoc environmental indicators and accounting systems this paper addresses the physical-monetary dichotomy in measuring the interactions between environment and economy by focusing on two systematic approaches which appear to become international standards. They are the physical Material Flow Accounts (MFA) developed by Wuppertal Institute and the physical and monetary System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA) of the United Nations. The following discusses some of the pros and cons of both physical and monetary approaches, with a view to linking or combining them.