Mayor de Blasio unveils $1B plan to cut greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050

Mayor de Blasio unveiled an ambitious plan Sunday to make the Big Apple go greener than ever.

Greenhouse emissions in the city would be cut 80% from 2005 levels by 2050 through a wide variety of measures to make both public and private buildings more environmentally friendly, he said.

Roughly 3,000 city-owned buildings, including schools, shelters, firehouses and hospitals, will be retrofitted to be more energy-efficient by 2025, de Blasio said.

The measures will cost $1 billion over 10 years.

The city will also push private property owners to do the same — and take legal measures to force landlords’ hands if they don’t comply.

“The standards that we’ve announced really put us in the forefront internationally,” said de Blasio, noting that Hurricane Sandy made it a necessity to stop rising ocean levels.

“This is a matter of survival. And my hope is that New York City’s example will resonate (nationwide) and build real momentum.”

Nearly three-quarters of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions come from energy used to heat, cool and power buildings, de Blasio said.

Landlords will also have interim goals that become mandates should they not comply.

“We’ll keep working with incentives and voluntary measures — if not, we’ll move to mandates,” de Blasio said. “I think that sends a message to the private sector that it would be a lot smarter to get there on their own than have mandates.”

The city will create a database to keep track of progress toward the goals that de Blasio said would help reduce inequality by cutting the amount of money spent on utilities.

Low-income families tend to live in older, less efficient buildings, meaning they fork out more cash each month on energy bills. “The average citizen understands a lot ... about the threat to the Earth,” he said.

“I think the average citizen is ready to do their share.”