California's air-quality board approved the nation's most sweeping plan to combat global warming

California's air-quality board today approved the nation's most sweeping plan to combat global warming by curbing emissions, a blueprint for changes in the next 12 years that will affect the products residents buy, the cars they drive and where they live.

In a unanimous vote, the California Air Resources Board unanimously approved a roadmap for how the state implements its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, about a 30 percent reduction.

California is "taking on a global responsibility that can be a model for others," said Mary Nichols, who chairs the air board. "It's a sample of what we think can and should be done" by the administration of President-elect Barack Obama, she added.

The plan sets emissions-reduction targets for a wide range of industries, will require local governments to reduce sprawling development and creates an elaborate cap-and-trade program to place a firm ceiling on emissions. Specific regulations to lower greenhouse gases will be created by the board in the coming months.

Most of the reductions will come from fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles that have been blocked by the Bush administration. Consumer appliances and new and existing buildings also will be subject to higher efficiency standards. Utility companies such as PG&E would have to provide 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.

The cap-and-trade program, under which participants are allotted so-called carbon credits that they can trade with others who exceed their limits, would cover 85 percent of greenhouse gas-emitting sources in the state, including electricity generation, large industrial sources and residential and commercial use of natural gas.

Details of the program were the subject of testimony during today's meeting.

Environmental organizations want participants to buy the credits in an auction, while affected businesses and organizations such as the California Taxpayers Association want them for free. The European Union, which has the largest cap-and-trade program in the world, allots some credits for free but its leaders want to charge all participants.

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