Calif. adopts major global warming plan - Climate Change- msnbc.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California air regulators on Thursday approved a climate plan that would require the state's utilities, refineries and large factories to transform their operations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The California Air Resources Board adopted what will be the nation's most sweeping global warming plan, outlining for the first time how individuals and businesses will have to meet a landmark 2006 law that made the state a leader on curbing warming emissions.

California's worst polluters will be held accountable for the heat-trapping emissions they produce — transforming how people travel, utilities generate power and businesses use electricity.

At the heart of the plan is the future creation of a carbon-credit market designed to give the state's major polluters cheaper ways to cut emissions.