Environmental quality targets are science-based indicators of environmental quality approved by public authorities. They serve as instruments for the quantitative performance measurement in the implementation of the concept of sustainable development.
Aim of environmental quality targets is to define an accepted state of the environment both in terms of quantity and quality.
Environmental monitoring systems shall contribute to achieving targeted, resource-efficient and economic solutions to environmental problems.
Technical management of environmental quality monitoring initiatives may be entrusted to public agencies, private companies, scientific units or industrial and infrastructural facility managers (e.g. airports, harbours, industrial estates), however, the collected data need to be directed to a central archive.