Despite last-minute efforts to stop progress, seven New England and Mid-Atlantic states – including Maine – moved forward this week with a groundbreaking regional compact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

On the eve of the planned announcement of the agreement, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut balked, putting the laboriously negotiated plan in jeopardy. Just hours later, the governor of Connecticut reconsidered and the deal was able to move forward.

Known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and called Reggie for short, the deal creates a cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the participating states. Maine has six plants that fall under the jurisdiction of the agreement, which requires that carbon dioxide emissions be maintained at their current levels through 2015 and then reduced by 10 percent by 2020.

Maine has remained committed to reducing greenhouse gases throughout the two-and-a-half year process, and when other states began to balk state leaders held firm to their intent. Maine was the first state to begin tracking greenhouse gas emissions and has cut emissions in the state by about 8 percent in two years.

In addition to Maine and Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont are participating. Rhode Island and Massachusetts are now on the outside looking in.

While the specific rules for each state must now be worked out, there’s enough flexibility in the plan to allow for deadline extensions if the targets can’t be met. It also has provisions that will help advance energy efficiency.

Global climate change, which the release of greenhouse gases contributes to, will not be fully addressed by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. It will take a concerted, global and national effort to make significant progress. But this regional agreement provides a model for other states with leaders who are willing to step up on this important environmental issue.