Industrial Ecology Virtual Laboratories (IELabs) enable the construction of national-to-local-scale multi-regional input–output (MRIO) models. These IELabs have been proven to be especially important for analyzing research questions that warrant sub-national spatial detail. The field of industrial ecology has clearly progressed from the time of national-only input–output tables. Here, we present a newly developed tool called NLab—“nested IELab”—that nests sub-national MRIO tables within global country-scale MRIOs. This capability allows for the investigation of interactions between sub-national production and consumption systems, with global systems interlinked via international trade. We provide a technical and mathematical roadmap for construction of nested input–output tables in the NLab, and demonstrate this capability through a real-world assessment of the Western Australian wine industry. Our results suggest that nested MRIO tables provide an added layer of detail at a regional level, when undertaking consumption-based footprint assessments, leading to improved assessment of quantification of regional impacts. The NLab presented in this work provides tools for analysis of complex trade linkages between industries at various scales, which has the further potential to open avenues for policy-makers to analyze the implications of local decisions at a global level, and vice versa.

中文翻译：

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创建多尺度嵌套 MRIO 表，将本地影响与全球消费驱动因素联系起来

工业生态虚拟实验室 (IELabs) 能够构建国家到地方规模的多区域投入产出 (MRIO) 模型。这些 IELabs 已被证明对于分析保证次国家空间细节的研究问题特别重要。产业生态领域从只有国家投入产出表的时代开始有了明显的进步。在这里，我们展示了一种新开发的工具，称为 NLab——“嵌套的 IELab”——它在全球国家规模的 MRIO 中嵌套了次国家级 MRIO 表。这种能力允许研究地方生产和消费系统之间的相互作用，全球系统通过国际贸易相互关联。我们提供了在 NLab 中构建嵌套输入输出表的技术和数学路线图，并通过对西澳大利亚葡萄酒行业的真实评估来展示这种能力。我们的结果表明，在进行基于消费的足迹评估时，嵌套的 MRIO 表在区域层面提供了额外的细节层，从而改进了对区域影响量化的评估。这项工作中介绍的 NLab 为分析不同规模的行业之间复杂的贸易联系提供了工具，这有可能为政策制定者在全球范围内分析地方决策的影响开辟道路，反之亦然。从而改进对区域影响量化的评估。这项工作中介绍的 NLab 为分析不同规模的行业之间复杂的贸易联系提供了工具，这有可能为政策制定者在全球范围内分析地方决策的影响开辟道路，反之亦然。从而改进对区域影响量化的评估。这项工作中介绍的 NLab 为分析不同规模的行业之间复杂的贸易联系提供了工具，这有可能为政策制定者在全球范围内分析地方决策的影响开辟道路，反之亦然。