Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders unveiled an aggressive plan on Monday to combat the fossil fuel industry, the "billionaire class" and climate change by cutting carbon emissions by more than 80 percent by 2050.

For the first time, the Vermont senator issued an extensive policy proposal for addressing climate change, which would lead to a reduction in U.S. carbon pollution of 40 percent over the next 15 years. To achieve that, Sanders would impose a tax on carbon, put an end to federal subsidies for fossil fuels and ban extraction on federal lands.

Sanders' sweeping climate plan also aims to completely ban the practice of hydro-fracking and create 10 million clean energy jobs through a federal workforce program. In addition its ambitious environmental goals, the 16-page plan would crack down on the fossil fuel industry, which Sanders says has "bribed politicians into ignoring [climate] science"

"It is beyond my comprehension that we can have a Republican Party and Republican candidates who are more concerned about getting huge campaign contributions from the Koch brothers and Exxon Mobil and the coal industry than they are about accepting what the overwhelming majority of scientists are saying," Sanders said on CBS' Face the Nation Sunday, according to a statement released by his campaign. "Climate change is real, caused by human activity and already causing major and devastating problems in our country and around the world."

Ultimately, Sanders seeks to transform the economy into a 100 percent clean energy system, though he did not specify a deadline for this particular goal.

"The debate is over. The vast majority of the scientific community has spoken. Climate change is real," said Sanders, according to Time. "We will act boldly to move our energy system away from fossil fuels, toward energy efficiency and sustainable energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal because we have a moral responsibility to leave our kids a planet that is healthy and habitable."

Following his announcement, Bill McKibben, an influential environmental activist and the co-founder of 350.org, praised the plan.

"Bernie's vision of a transformed America is powerful, because it recognizes both the ecological need and the human priority," McKibben said. "There's good useful work that we need millions of Americans to do -- and he'll make sure it's done by the people left out of our economic booms of the past."

Likewise, Greenpeace U.S. executive director Annie Leonard issued a statement applauding Sanders for proposing a plan that "has broken free of the corporate and 1 percent money that has held back climate policy for far too long."