With the intensification of global warming, climate change has been a serious challenge for human society. Carbon footprint is an up- to- date tool for measuring direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions associated with human activities. With the aim of supporting environmental and energy policy making, carbon footprint has attracted considerable attention from academia, enterprises and the public. Main methods of carbon footprint accounting include the method based on emission inventory and factors, life cycle assessment (LCA), and input-output analysis (IOA). This paper starts with an introduction to the fundamentals of the three methods and then presents a systematic review of the development of IOA methods, such as single-regional input-output (SRIO) and multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models, with a focus on its applications in carbon footprint studies at scales of international trades, industries, consumers, regions, organizations, etc. The paper also explores the opportunities and challenges of input-output-based carbon footprint in a SWOT analysis framework, and finally outlines the possible development of hybrid methods, multi-scale multi-regional input-output (MSMRIO) models and scenario analysis for carbon footprint research.