1. The design and development of a statewide environmental monitoring network to detect changes in key environmental conditions related to climate. The program must be designed to increase public awareness of climate-related phenomena and to identify actions that may be taken to lower risks of climate change and its effects on public health and welfare. When practical the program must involve schools in collecting data. The information developed by the program must be available to the public and organized in a manner to help businesses, natural resource managers, farmers and governmental agencies plan for future effects of climate change; and

2. Evaluating for this State the following:

A. Past climate patterns and trends both historical and prehistorical, including geological evidence and sea-level and coastal environmental changes;

B. Biotic responses to climate change; and

C. Variability in physical conditions, including, but not limited to, frequency and severity of storms, levels of precipitation and seasonal temperature fluctuations, attributable to climate change.

As part of the plan submitted pursuant to this section, the Department of Environmental Protection shall identify a process for collecting and reporting statewide emissions of greenhouse gases on a regular basis. The department shall also develop and maintain a voluntary registry of actions taken subsequent to 1989 by persons or corporations to control emissions of greenhouse gases, including the sequestration of carbon that otherwise might have been released as carbon dioxide.