EXIOBASE
EXIOBASE is a global, environmentally extended multi-regional input-output database. It links economic activity across countries and sectors to environmental impacts, and is commonly used for spend-based emissions estimates and macro-level carbon footprint analysis.
EXIOBASE was developed by a consortium of European research institutes to provide a detailed, time-series view of the global economy and its environmental pressures. It combines national supply-use tables, trade data, and environmental satellite accounts such as greenhouse gas emissions, resource extraction, and land use.
The database covers around 200 products and industries across 49 countries and five rest-of-world regions, with annual data extending from 1995 to recent years. Its structure lets analysts trace the emissions embedded in final consumption back through supply chains across borders.
For carbon accounting, EXIOBASE is a source of spend-based emission factors, usually expressed per unit of economic output (for example, kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per dollar or euro spent). These factors are most useful for Scope 3 Category 1 (purchased goods and services) when supplier-specific or product-level data is unavailable. They are less precise than process-based lifecycle inventory data from databases such as ecoinvent, but they require less detailed activity information.
EXIOBASE is released under a non-commercial license and is freely available to researchers, non-profits, and public agencies. Commercial use requires a separate license. It is a key input to many hybrid lifecycle and input-output studies that combine economic and physical data.
Frequently asked questions
What is EXIOBASE? +
EXIOBASE is a global, environmentally extended multi-regional input-output database. It links economic activity across countries and industries to environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions.
How is EXIOBASE used in carbon accounting? +
EXIOBASE provides spend-based emission factors for Scope 3 estimates. By mapping spend to an industry sector and country, organizations can estimate emissions when supplier-specific data is unavailable.
What is the difference between EXIOBASE and ecoinvent? +
EXIOBASE is an input-output database based on economic data and trade, best for broad spend-based estimates. ecoinvent is a process-based lifecycle inventory database with detailed unit processes, best for product carbon footprints and specific technologies.
Related terms
EEIO
EEIO (Environmentally Extended Input-Output) is an economic modeling approach that estimates greenhouse gas emissions per dollar of economic output by industry sector, commonly used for Scope 3 spend-based emissions calculations.
Spend-Based Method
The spend-based method estimates greenhouse gas emissions by multiplying procurement expenditure (in dollars or other currency) by economic emission factors that represent the average emissions intensity per unit of spend in a given sector. It is the most accessible Scope 3 estimation approach but also the least precise.
Emission Factor
An emission factor is a coefficient that converts an activity measurement — such as litres of fuel burned, kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed, or dollars spent on a commodity — into a quantity of greenhouse gas emissions, typically expressed in kilograms or tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e).
Scope 3 Emissions
Scope 3 emissions are all indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur in an organization's value chain — both upstream (suppliers, purchased goods, business travel, employee commuting) and downstream (product use, end-of-life treatment, investments). Scope 3 typically represents 70–90% of a company's total carbon footprint.
Lifecycle Assessment (LCA)
A lifecycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic analysis of the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service across its entire lifecycle — from raw material extraction through production, use, and end-of-life. Governed by ISO 14040/14044, LCAs evaluate multiple impact categories including climate change, acidification, eutrophication, and resource depletion.