By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Times Union.

The nation's first state-level emissions cap-and-trade program has vastly reduced carbon dioxide emissions in a nine-state region including New York since 2009, according to a report to be released Thursday.

The Acadia Center, a non-profit research organization that advocates for clean energy and economic growth, found that the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states involved in the cap-and-trade program have also reported more economic growth than states without a similar initiative.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which went into effect in 2009, auctions off tradable carbon dioxide allowances to power plants, authorizing them to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide.