Since the mid-1970s, there has been an increasing engagement with issues of operational environmental cost accounting in corporate practice. Until the 1980s, calculations were limited to determining the costs of remedial environmental protection measures and were usually conducted as special accounts. Ongoing cost accounting remained unaffected by environmental issues. However, in recent years, more comprehensive concepts of environmental cost accounting have been developed, aiming for their integration into the management system and cost accounting of companies. Based on the current state of discussion, possible consequences for the further development and future requirements of environmental cost accounting are presented here.