http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/12/07/sanders-climate-revolution-would-cut-80-emissions-2050

A national energy policy that prioritizes the health and well-being of people and planet above the profits of the fossil fuel industry is what voters can expect should Sen. Bernie Sanders be elected President of the United States next year, according to the candidate, who on Monday unveiled his plan to combat the rising crisis of climate change.

The plan calls for a tax on carbon, an end to fossil fuels subsidies, and "massive investments" in energy efficiency and a system powered by non-nuclear, sustainable sources such as wind and solar, enabling a swift transition to a clean energy economy. Sanders estimates these measures would cut U.S carbon pollution by 40 percent by 2030 and over 80 percent by 2050.

While many of his competitors have been ambivalent, if not derisive, on the issue, the Senator from Vermont unequivocally declared global warming "the single greatest threat facing our planet."

He asserts that the reason the U.S. has failed to take meaningful steps to solve the crisis is because a "small subsection of the one percent are hell-bent on doing everything in their power to block action."

In order to derail Big Oil's influence on U.S. climate policy, Sanders said he would "ban fossil fuel lobbyists from working in the White House," and overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling that has "enabled billionaires to increasingly control the political campaign finance system."

Sanders also addresses a number of the more controversial aspects of current U.S. energy policy. His plan: calls for an outright ban on offshore and Arctic oil drilling, as well as mountaintop removal coal mining; supports state efforts to ban fracking; blocks natural gas exports and legislative efforts to lift the crude oil export ban; places a moratorium on nuclear power plant license renewals; and increases fuel economy standards, among other things.