More coal and gas were burned to make electricity.

The difference between emissions and GDP was because agriculture, forestry and fishing emissions remained virtually unchanged through level 4, said Stats NZ. Agriculture accounts for almost half of the country’s emissions as measured by the official statistics. Service industries, which make up about twothirds of the economy yet contribute on average only 10 per cent of emissions, fell away hard with Covid restrictions.

Services recovered strongly in the September quarter, boosting GDP by a greater percentage than they pushed up emissions, because they are not emissionsintensive activities.

Households’ share of climate pollution also fell hard in level 4 and then bounced back quickly.

With several weeks of limited driving during level 4, direct emissions from households (which make up 12 per cent of total emissions) dropped 27 per cent in the June quarter, before rebounding to pre-Covid levels.

For those who thought they saw plenty of cars on the road in Auckland during the second 2020 lockdown, emissions figures support that observation. Even with various regional lockdowns throughout the September quarter, household emissions remained relatively high, compared with the drop in the June 2020 quarter, a trend Stats NZ said was largely because of high transport pollution.

Getting out of level 4 was not the only factor behind the September quarter’s bounceback – dry weather reduced flows to hydro dams, and meant more coal and gas were burned to make electricity. Burning more fossil fuels to make power helped push emissions from goods-producing industries up 11 per cent in the September 2020 quarter.

Stats NZ noted that, while driving restrictions only affected people for about one-third of the June 2020 quarter, border closures had lasting impacts on emissions from international travel businesses.

Transport, postal and warehousing industries also dropped especially sharply (48 per cent) initially, and were hit again by regional lockdowns during the September 2020 quarter.