David Miliband has pledged to make Britain live "within the limits that the environment can tolerate".
Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Manchester on Wednesday, the environment secretary unveiled plans to generate more renewable energy on public land and empower people to cut their own carbon emissions.
He also pledged to devolve control of urban quality of life issues to local government.
Miliband told delegates that the party should be "proud" of its record in government but that it had "only begun the task of cutting carbon emissions".
"That is why today I propose we adopt a new goal as a country: to aim to live as a nation within the limits that the environment can tolerate," he added.
"The challenge is immense. But so are the tools at our disposal."
Miliband argued that technology was available to make cars and homes more efficient and develop bio-fuels.
He announced a new scheme to generate 500 million watts of clean electricity per year, enough to power the cities of Oxford, Exeter, Norwich and Newcastle combined, by encouraging private investment in renewable energy on public land.
The minister also proposed new "carbon cards just like a credit card, charging us for our carbon emissions, rewarding us for our savings and putting control in the hands of people".
And he promised that councils would get more power to "lead environmental change, driving forward sustainable housing, taking responsibility for congestion charging and improved public transport".
Miliband was speaking in a debate on sustainable communities, also addressed by London and Los Angeles mayors Ken Livingstone and Antonio Villaraigosa.
Livingstone told the conference that the capital was ready for radical measures on water metering, which he was prepared to introduce if given the power.
Meanwhile Democrat Villaraigosa praised the government's international "leadership" on global warming at a time when the Republican administration in Washington did not "believe in science".
Also speaking in the debate, transport secretary Douglas Alexander promised to make "bus services work in every community".
"So in the weeks ahead I will bring forward proposals to change the way buses are run in this country," he said.
"You know and I know that in too many of our communities we have seen a free-for-all that has left the needs of the public behind.
"So to ensure the private sector delivers the bus services our communities demand, I will act to empower local communities... I will act to give the local transport authorities that need them real powers to make a real difference."
