One part of the state’s plan to reduce carbon emissions was released on Friday.
By establishing a cap-and-trade system, CARB hoped to drastically reduce emissions from the state’s 600 largest polluters, all from industries that produce 20% of the state’s total emissions.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

About 600 of California’s major polluters — from oil refineries to power plants and factories — will face mandatory limits on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, starting Jan. 1, 2012, under rules released Friday by state air regulators.

The facilities will be able to trade pollution credits under a new “cap and trade” market, and will be allowed to use projects that offset global warming, such as tree planting, to cover up to 8 percent of their emissions limits.




The new rules are part of AB 32, the landmark law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and now at the center of a bruising ballot fight in Tuesday’s election. The law requires that California’s greenhouse gas emissions be cut to 1990 levels by 2020, a drop of about 15 percent from current levels.

Read the full article here.

[Editor’s note: I included this article in our Monday update because I am interested to see how you think these rules will affect your communities. Email me your thoughts at dan@publicceo.com]