The ecological footprint has been a crucial ecological indicator for more than two
decades, and the methodology for calculating it has developed significantly over the
years. However, some issues and shortcomings still need to be addressed and specified
further. This paper focuses on the embedded land requirements of imported commodities
in input-output modelling approaches. We propose a refined model to overcome the shortcomings
of two former models. Our model quantifies the embedded ecological land-footprint
of imported commodities and their allocation between direct final consumption and
production. In addition, we allocate the latter again among final consumption and
exports using the framework of linear algebra and matrix arithmetic. We also propose
ways of extending the model to overcome the general but misleading assumption in the
literature that imported commodities have an equal per unit ecological footprint to
domestic products, an approach that is based on the idea that trading partners have
the same technological background.
