Before the People's Climate March on Sunday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to commit the city to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent in just 10 years with sweeping retrofits to public and private buildings.

The plan, "One City Built to Last: Transforming New York City's Buildings for a Low-Carbon Future," will create approximately 3,500 jobs for New Yorkers in construction and energy services and spur major costs savings. 

Nearly three quarters of the City's greenhouse gas emissions come from energy used to heat, cool and power buildings, making building retrofits a central component of any plan to dramatically reduce emissions.

"By retrofitting all our public buildings with significant energy use in the next ten years, we're leading by example; and by partnering with the private sector, we'll reduce emissions and improve efficiency while generating billions in savings an creating thousands of jobs for New Yorkers who need it most," Mayor de Blasio said in a statement.

The city has 3,000 public buildings with significant energy use which they plan to retrofit to use less energy by 2025. That will involve 150-200 buildings per year for the next ten years including schools, firehouses, hospitals, police precincts, libraries and homeless shelters.

By 2025 the de Blasio administration wants every city building upgraded through lighting upgrades, boiler replacements and solar and renewables.

The city will encourage private building owners to invest in efficiency upgrades. Private buildings will be given ambitious target reductions and mandates if reductions are not met. Buildings with over 25,000 square feet are to measure and disclose energy use annually, conduct energy assessments and upgrade lighting.

"We applaud Mayor de Blasio. ... Bold plans like these are what's required to pull our planet back from the brink of irreversible climate devastation. Climate change effects everyone -- but its impacts are not evenly felt. Climate justice demand that we protect our most vulnerable communities. We hope New York's leadership triggers a municipal revolution that compels global leaders to finally take long overdue action," said Eddie Bautista, the executive director of NYC Environmental Justice Alliance.

The announcement came as 120 world leaders, business and financial leaders and civil society groups are due to meet on Tuesday at the U.N. Climate Summit. During that meeting, it is anticipated many groups will introduce aggressive and body ideas to help combat climate change.