Wisconsin could reduce its greenhouse emissions to levels similar to the year 1990 by 2020, if state lawmakers decide to follow a plan released by an environmental group Friday.

Wisconsin Environment?s ?Blueprint for Action on Global Warming in Wisconsin? outlines strategies for the emissions reductions proposed in the Wisconsin Safe Climate Act, currently stalled in committees in both houses of the Legislature.

?That kind of reduction would be in line with what the scientists are recommending,? said Dan Kohler, director of Wisconsin Environment. ?We drafted this plan to point out how achievable this goal is.?

Some key points of the 75-page plan include: putting a moratorium on new coal power plants, capping emissions and implementing a carbon credit trading system for companies that cannot reduce emissions, strengthening energy efficiency programs, and requiring 20 percent of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Essentially, Kohler said, the plan provides a feasible way of executing the cuts in CO2 emissions that would be mandated by the Safe Climate Act.

?I authored the bill because I believe one of the greatest threats facing our future is global warming,? Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said. ?Global warming can have catastrophic consequences for Wisconsin and the rest of the world in the years and decades to come.?

Rep. Joe Parisi, D-Madison, a co-sponsor of the Assembly bill, said the Legislature has put off acting on climate change for too long, adding the bill has been kicked around committees for months.

?I think there are a number of different ways we can reach these goals with current technology,? Parisi said. ?The technology is there, the know-how is there; we just need the political will.?

Both Democrats said the Republicans in the Assembly are responsible for the legislation?s slow progress, and Parisi added, ?Assembly Republicans just don?t seem to be concerned about climate change.?

Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, is co-chair of the Natural Resources Committee where the Assembly legislation is currently stalled and an opponent of the bill.

?Wisconsin?s impact (on CO2 levels) is a tiny drop in a huge bucket, especially compared to countries like India and China,? Ott said.

Ott said enacting the legislation would be ?the same as doing nothing? in terms of affecting CO2 levels and global warming, but it would create a huge bureaucracy and pass costs of reducing emissions on to consumers.

?I?m not convinced that the majority of the recent warming is due to human activity. I don?t think we know for sure,? Ott added.

Kohler said states should take steps against global warming one by one.

?The federal government has not yet taken action on [addressing climate change] ? and so some states have begun to move forward on that,? Kohler said.

Wisconsin Environment?s plan also includes adopting the California Clean Cars Program.

Ott, however, said if legislation limiting emissions were enacted it should be at the federal level and have ?meaningful? international support.

?If one state passes legislation like this, it?s going to be at a disadvantage,? Ott said. ?If one country passes legislation, then that country is going to be at a disadvantage.?