The Clean Power Plan, which the White House is rolling out on Monday, is the central pillar in the Obama administration's multi-pronged strategy to address manmade global warming. The suite of EPA regulations, all resting on the agency's authority under the Clean Air Act, will affect all existing and planned power plants in the U.S. and are aimed at moving the U.S. away from a reliance on coal-fired power plants for generating electricity.

The regulations would provide a shot in the arm to renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, potentially serving as rocket fuel for the already rapidly growing U.S. clean energy sector.

The plan is the first time the U.S. has established national standards on carbon emissions from power plants and amounts to the most sweeping climate change regulations ever enacted in this country.

The EPA regulations, which were initially proposed in June 2014 and are now being rolled out in final form following a public comment period, differ in several ways from the initial proposal. The goals of the plan have been strengthened, while flexibility was added in to give states more ways, and more time, to comply with the regulations.

“The final rule is a smarter and stronger version than the draft rule,” said Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, in an interview with Mashable.

The regulations contain a goal of cutting planet-warming carbon pollution from power plants by 32% below 2005 levels by 2030. (The original proposal had a goal of cutting such emissions by 30%.)

BREAKING: On Monday, President Obama will release the final version of America's Clean Power Plan—the biggest, most... Posted by The White House on Saturday, August 1, 2015

The rule is designed to give states flexibility in determining how to meet the national carbon standards. All states will get an emissions reduction goal, and each can determine on its own how to get there. For example, a state can switch its power plants from coal to natural gas, build tons of solar installations, or join cap and trade systems, while others may find it economically advantageous to shutter plants and take other actions.

States will submit their plans by 2018 at the latest, and start cutting emissions by 2022.

Moves away from natural gas

Significantly, the final rule does not look to natural gas as a major player in the country's short-to-medium term energy mix. Natural gas is a cleaner-burning fossil fuel, but still emits carbon dioxide and methane, which are both greenhouse gases. In the past decade, the economics of the power sector have shifted in favor of natural gas compared to coal. Natural gas proponents often tout it as a "bridge" fuel to help the U.S. transition from coal to renewable energy, but the administration seems to be rejecting that approach, at least somewhat, with these rules.

The final rule sets more aggressive goals for expanding renewable energy use than the draft did. The share of renewable energy electric generating capacity required to be deployed by 2030 is projected to be 28%, rather than 22% in the proposed rules.

Kimmell says the renewables push, compared to the proposed regulations, would be "much more cost-effective" in the long-term.

According to a White House fact sheet distributed to reporters on Sunday, the share of natural gas in the country's energy generation mix was projected to increase significantly by 2020 compared to a business as usual scenario.

"In the final rule, that early rush to gas is eliminated. Indeed, the share of natural gas is essentially flat compared to business as usual," the fact sheet states.

To spur deployment of renewables, the regulations would create an incentive program aimed at rewarding projects that begin construction after participating state plans are submitted. The plan also aims to increase low-income housing energy efficiency, which the White House claims will cut energy bills for low-income families.

This is the centerpiece of U.S. international climate credibility

The Clean Power Plan is what will allow the U.S. to live up to its international climate change commitments in the lead-up to the crucial Paris Climate Summit in early December. In a submission to the United Nations, the U.S. has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, and by 26 to 28% compared to 2005 levels by the year 2025.

Without the Clean Power Plan, that would not be a feasible target.

At a White House event on Monday announcing the regulations, President Obama said that China has committed to arresting the increase in their emissions in large part based on the U.S. example.

No single action, no single country will change the warming of the planet on its own," Obama said, adding that American leadership is essential to solving the problem.

"The only reason that China is now looking at getting serious about its emissions is because they saw that we were going to do it too." While critics, including most Republican presidential candidates, have pounced on the plan for potentially raising the cost of electricity to consumers, the White House says it will do the opposite, and actually will save the average American family about $85 annually by 2030.

The White House is also touting the plan as a public health benefit, since shutting down coal-fired power plants will reduce mercury and other toxic emissions. Specifically, the EPA says the Clean Power Plan will "avoid up to 3,600 premature deaths, lead to 90,000 fewer asthma attacks in children, and prevent 300,000 missed work and school days."

The regulations come as 2015 is on course to set a record for the warmest year on the planet. Fourteen of the 15 warmest years since record-keeping began in the late 1800s have occurred since the year 2000.