Improving the UKMRIO’s Trade Data

The UK’s Multi-Regional Input-Output database (UKMRIO) is used to calculate the UK’s consumption-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as a number of other environmental and economic indicators. The UKMRIO is constructed from National Accounts from the UK’s Office for National Statistics, as well as from international trade data from a global Multi-Regional Input-Output (GMRIO) databases. As various GMRIOs exist, this research tests the potential use of four current GMRIO databases in the UKMRIO model: EXIOBASE, GLORIA, the ICIO, and FIGARO. We find that the UK’s estimated domestic emissions are highly similar across the four GMRIOs. However, imported emissions show more variance, with ICIO estimating the highest imported emissions for the UK. Differences in findings further appear to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with EXIOBASE reporting higher emission increases for 2020 and 2021 than GLORIA and FIGARO. This is likely due to methodological differences in database construction and source data. As each GMRIO has its own set of strengths and limitation, we evaluate their suitability for the UKMRIO using the GMRIO’s source data, annual coverage, regional coverage, industry coverage, extension variables, and ease of use. We conclude that using a combination of EXIOBASE (for the years 2001-2014) and FIGARO (2015-2021) provides the best trade date for the UKMRIO model, based on these criteria.