SummaryEnvironmentally extended multiregional input-output (EE MRIO) tables have emerged as a key framework to provide a comprehensive description of the global economy and analyze its effects on the environment. Of the available EE MRIO databases, EXIOBASE stands out as a database compatible with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) with a high sectorial detail matched with multiple social and environmental satellite accounts. In this paper, we present the latest developments realized with EXIOBASE 3-a time series of EE MRIO tables ranging from 1995 to 2011 for 44 countries (28 EU member plus 16 major economies) and five rest of the world regions. EXIOBASE 3 builds upon the previous versions of EXIOBASE by using rectangular supply-use tables (SUTs) in a 163 industry by 200 products classification as the main building blocks. In order to capture structural changes, economic developments, as reported by national statistical agencies, were imposed on the available, disaggregated SUTs from EXIOBASE 2. These initial estimates were further refined by incorporating detailed data on energy, agricultural production, resource extraction, and bilateral trade. EXIOBASE 3 inherits the high level of environmental stressor detail from its precursor, with further improvement in the level of detail for resource extraction. To account for the expansion of the European Union (EU), EXIOBASE 3 was developed with the full EU28 country set (including the new member state Croatia). EXIOBASE 3 provides a unique tool for analyzing the dynamics of environmental pressures of economic activities over time.

Carbon stocks in vegetation play a key role in the climate system1–4, but their magnitude and patterns, their uncertainties, and the impact of land use on them remain poorly quantified. Based on a consistent integration of state-of-the art datasets, we show that vegetation currently stores ~450 PgC. In the hypothetical absence of land use, potential vegetation would store ~916 PgC, under current climate. This difference singles out the massive effect land use has on biomass stocks. Deforestation and other land-cover changes are responsible for 53-58% of the difference between current and potential biomass stocks. Land management effects, i.e. land-use induced biomass stock changes within the same land cover, contribute 42-47% but are underappreciated in the current literature. Avoiding deforestation hence is necessary but not sufficient for climate-change mitigation. Our results imply that trade-offs exist between conserving carbon stocks on managed land and raising the contribution of biomass to raw material and energy supply for climate change mitigation. Efforts to raise biomass stocks are currently only verifiable in temperate forests, where potentials are limited. In contrast, large uncertainties hamper verification in the tropical forest where the largest potentials are located, pointing to challenges for the upcoming stocktaking exercises under the Paris agreement.

partners who deplete groundwater to produce these crops, highlighting risks for global food and water security. Groups of countries are found particularly exposed to these risks as they both produce and import food irrigated from rapidly depleting aquifers, such as the USA, Mexico, Iran and China.These results can help improve the sustainability of global food production and groundwater resources management by identifying priority regions and agricultural products at risk as well as the end-consumers of these products.

Provision of food is a prerequisite for the functioning of human society. Cropland where food and feed are grown is the central, limiting resource for food production. The amount of cropland needed depends on population numbers, average food consumption patterns, and output per unit of land. Around the globe, these factors show large differences. We use data from the Food and Agriculture Organization to consistently assess subcontinental dynamics of how much land was needed to supply the prevailing diets during a span of 46 y, from 1961 to 2007. We find that, in most regions, diets became richer while the land needed to feed one person decreased. A decomposition approach is used to quantify the contributions of the main drivers of cropland requirements for food: changes in population, agricultural technology, and diet. We compare the impact of these drivers for different subcontinents and find that potential land savings through yield increases were offset by a combination of population growth and dietary change. The dynamics of the three factors were the largest in developing regions and emerging economies. The results indicate an inverse relationship between the two main drivers behind increased land requirements for food: with socioeconomic development, population growth decreases and, at the same time, diets become richer. In many regions, dietary change may override population growth as major driver behind land requirements for food in the near future.global analysis | land use | historical trends | decomposition analysis T hroughout the world, agriculture provides human society with food. Since the emergence of large-scale agriculture, this crucial activity has been responsible for the largest environmental impacts of humans on natural systems: presently, the largest shares of human land and freshwater use (1, 2), biomass appropriation (3), and the alteration of the global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles (4, 5), and a significant contribution to energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (6), are associated with the provision of food. Within agriculture, croplands take a central and often limiting role. These lands are usually of high quality and, by generating food and feed crops, they provide the lion's share of the global food supply: in 2005, more than 90% of all food calories and approximately 80% of all food protein and fats available in the world were derived from croplands [Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, http://faostat.fao.org/].The amount of cropland needed to supply a society with food depends on population numbers, the type of diet, and the food output per unit of land. Population, diets, and production techniques change over time and show large spatial variation. With socioeconomic development, population growth rates decrease (7) and diets change: typically, consumption of animal protein, vegetable oils, fruits and vegetables increases, while starchy staples become less important (8). These changes from staples toward richer diets imply that cropland demand of avera...