The fast growth of greenhouse emissions in developing countries is a serious cause of concern for the sustainability of the world climate system. Improved quality of life and the resulting consumer behavior changes of large parts of their populations are causing countries such as China, India and Indonesia to rapidly catch up on Western countries’ enormous per capita carbon footprint. Dabo Guan is a Distinguished Professor at Tsinghua University, China, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, UK. He specialises in environmental economics for international climate change mitigation and adaptation. Dabo’s special expertise in the driving forces behind environmental and economic policies in China makes him particularly well placed to act as a bridge between the interests and sustainability efforts of both China and Western countries – which served him well as Lead Author for the Working Group III of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. At Falling Walls, Dabo will talk about the shift in consumption patterns and lifestyle trends across the globe and their future impact on global heating. He will point to the responsibility of both developed and developing countries to pave the way to global sustainability and stress the importance of international cooperation to catalyse and sustain a cultural shift in the way we consume our planet’s finite resources.

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