A plan to enact an historic and sweeping set of measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions throughout California is was approved Thursday by the state Air Resources Board in Sacramento.

The controversial new plan, which puts into operation the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, seeks to roll back emissions of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. (Shown: NASA global climate change map.)

The measures outlined in the plan include toughening energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, developing a “cap and trade” system that would allow businesses to buy and sell credits for greenhouse gas emissions, tightening transportation and fuel standards, and imposing fees for emitting high levels of greenhouse gases.

It will affect the state’s utilities, refineries and and large manufacturers.

The overall “scoping plan” the board is expected to vote on today does not enact each measure by itself; instead, it is an overall blueprint that charts the course the state must follow. Then, individual greenhouse gas reduction measures would be crafted and brought before the state board for separate approvals.

The cap-and-trade program would cover 85 percent of the state’s emissions. It involves creating a market — perhaps in conjunction with seven other states and four Canadian provinces — allowing businesses to buy and sell credits for carbon emissions with the aim of reducing overall emissions.

It also calls for broadening use of solar energy, high-speed rail, renewable energy and water efficiency, as well as emission reduction rules for trucks and ships docked at ports.

Environmental activists largely support the plan. The Coalition for Clean Air in Los Angeles had raised concerns about whether the plan would protect low-income or minority communities near plants that genereate pollution.

Senior policy director Tim Carmichael said after the vote his group was satisfied those protections were in place, mainly through a required assessment of the plan’s effects  – although the board did not set aside funds for the communities most affected, as the group hoped.

“They did not go as far as we wanted them to,” Carmichael said.

Still, he said, “This is a huge step, not just for California but the whole planet. We believe a lot of the elements in the California plan will be copied by other states and other countries.”

Business and industry leaders, as well as Republicans, worry that the plan, its measures to be put in place by 2012, will lead to job losses, flight of businesses from California and soaring energy prices.

“The deepening recession has affected businesses throughout the state,” Amisha Patel, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, told the board Thursday. “The reality of climate regulations is there will be costs.”

The Air Resources Board says jobs will increase, not decrease, because of the measures, and that California residents will save money because of greater fuel efficiency in cars and energy efficiency at home.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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