California regulators are making strides in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by being the first state to require low-carbon fuels.

The new measures could serve as a template for future national policy.

The California Air Resources Board announced today that they will institute a proposal that calls for reducing the carbon content of fuels sold in California by 10 percent by 2020. They plan to do this by counting the emissions required to deliver gasoline and diesel to California consumers, as transportation accounts for almost 40 percent of greenhouse gasses in California.

“The emissions from this sector have traditionally grown in California at a rate that exceeds even our growth in population,” board chairwoman Mary Nichols said at the hearing. “It has led to a host of environmental problems.”