Office work cuts gases

A growing army of office workers may have helped to keep the country's greenhouse gas emissions in check, a new report shows.

A benchmark report into sustainable development found that although greenhouse gas emissions rose 22 per cent in the past 20 years, greenhouse gas emitted for each unit of GDP fell.

The report by Statistics New Zealand said that could be because industries were more efficient.

But the authors noted another likely explanation - a huge long-term increase in the services sector.

Between 1990 and 2007, three-quarters of economic growth was in services, including retailing, accommodation, health, education, business and property services.

Such jobs tended to produce less greenhouse gas per unit of income compared with heavier industries, said the report.

Overall, however, the report concluded that New Zealand seemed to be becoming less sustainable in its greenhouse gas emissions, water quality and biodiversity.

The authors issued New Zealand a "fail" when it came to improving the welfare of seven native species used as a indicator of biodiversity.

Kokako, mohua, the short-tailed bat and the kiwi had all retreated to within a fraction of their former habitat, with some reduced to 5 per cent or less of their pre-human range.

Nitrogen pollution in rivers and streams crept up.

And a smaller proportion of electricity came from renewable sources - down from 80.5 per cent to 66.6 per cent.

The biggest increase in greenhouse gas emissions was from the energy sector (mostly transport), which produced 39 per cent more emissions than in 1990.

More people travelled to work by car and fewer walked and cycled to work. But people were also making greater use of public transport, the study found.