The problem for the world as it tries to tackle climate change is that more than one billion other Chinese want to be just like him.

"My parents bought their first fridge when I was born, it was a small one from Romania," Chen said recently over dinner and beer at a Turkish restaurant in Beijing as he recalled his once frugal, but energy-efficient, lifestyle.

"My family stayed in grandma's house until I was 12. My parents and I shared the same room."

Now, partly thanks to the extraordinary economic growth in China that began with reforms in the communist country starting roughly the same time that Chen was born, he is living a far more enjoyable life.

Chen and his partner recently flew to London for a holiday, while he jet throughout China for work and overseas around 10 times year.

Living in a two-bedroom apartment on the edge of Beijing's diplomatic quarter with a television, microwave and air conditioning, Chen's lifestyle resembles those of many in the United States and elsewhere in the West.

Chen is also something of a rarity in China as he is very aware of the carbon footprint he is leaving on the world.

After surfing on the Internet, he has calculated his lifestyle leads to the emission of 10 tonnes of climate-changing carbon dioxide each year, roughly the same amount as a regular person on the West and three times as high as the average for other Chinese.

While one person does not have a major impact on the climate, China is a land of 1.3 billion people in which Chen's tale of rags to riches, and the accompanying dependence on energy, is being repeated in historic proportions.

As UN experts gather in Bangkok this week hoping to come up with some solutions to curb the rise in greenhouse gas emissions that threaten to wreak havoc across planet Earth, China is one country that is of most concern.

A few years ago the International Energy Agency predicted that China would overtake the United States as the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gas emissions by 2010.

But China, which depends on coal -- a fossil fuel that is one of the prime emitters of carbon dioxide -- for roughly 70 percent of its energy needs, is now set to surpass the United States far more quickly.

With its factories working to the limit and thousands of new cars hitting the road daily amid double-digit economic growth, it could become the number one culprit in climate change this year.

The International Energy Agency's chief economist, Faith Birol, issued that warning in an interview with the Wall Street Journal newspaper last week, and, while the Chinese government may dispute the exact date, it does not reject the trend.

"It is quite possible that China will overtake the United States to become the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the next one or two years," Xu Huaqing, the director of the Climate Change Centre at China's National Development and Reform Commission, told AFP.

"The main reason for China's growing greenhouse gases emissions is China's fast economic growth."

There is no doubt that China's leadership understands the importance of taking swift action to slow the expansion of the nation's carbon footprint.

"We urgently need to strengthen our work on saving energy and reducing pollution as we face global climate change," Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday, as he vowed to target major industries in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

China set a goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross national product by 20 percent during the 2006-2010 period and cutting emissions of key water and air pollutants by 10 percent over the same period.

However, China badly missed the targets last year.

"This year is crucial," Wen said. "If we can meet our energy savings and pollution reduction targets for this year, it will form a good base as we go forward."

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