The Energy Minister says we can't under-estimate how effective the Government's plan to reduce emissions in the steel sector will be.

NZ Steel will receive up to 140 million dollars to help replace half the coal used at its Glenbrook site with electricity.

It will cut emissions by 800-thousand tonnes on day one, the equivalent of taking every Christchurch car off the road.

Megan Woods told Kate Hawkesby that any plan to rely on the Emissions Trading Scheme alone wouldn't work.

She says to get the equivalent, the price of carbon emissions would need to increase four times.

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