SummaryThe use of global, multiregional input‐output (MRIO) analysis for consumption‐based (footprint) accounting has expanded significantly over the last decade. Most of the global studies on environmental and social impacts associated with consumption or embodied in international trade would have been impossible without the rapid development of extended MRIO databases. We present an overview of the developments in the field of MRIO analysis, in particular as applied to consumption‐based environmental and social footprints. We first provide a discussion of research published on various global MRIO databases and the differences between them, before focusing on the virtual laboratory computing infrastructure for potentially making MRIO databases more accessible for collaborative research, and also for supporting greater sectoral and regional detail. We discuss work that includes a broader range of extensions, in particular the inclusion of social indicators in consumption‐based accounting. We conclude by discussing the need for the development of detailed nested MRIO tables for investigating linkages between regions of different countries, and the applications of the rapidly growing field of global MRIO analysis for assessing a country's performance toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.