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The slow progress of the past decades towards radical changes despite continous technological developments made clear that global challenges such as climate change and material scarcity cannot be resolved by technical innovations alone. They require a fundamental change of human lifestyles and mindsets that question currently unsustainable consumption and production patterns. patterns and recognise sustainability criteria.  Sustainable lifestyles are proposed as a solution, as  a collection of practices and attitudes related to sustainable development, or ways of living that in practice lead to sustainable development without exceeding the carrying capacity of the planet \cite{Gram_Hanssen_2012}. Over the past years, sustainability has become an increasingly important factor in individual decision-making and receives has received  increasing attention by common people. Since the concesus reached at the UNCED conference in 1992 that resulted in the so-called Agenda 21 programme, sustainable lifestyles have been promoted in various ways and at  different levels. At a national level, some countriesmore  focussed on economic incentives or green taxes, whilst others considered information labelling and campaigns to change people's attitudes, or provided the physical infrastructure such as public transportation, renewable energy production or recycling waste systems, that actively support sustainable lifestyles. These different strategies influence practices and attitudes of people regarding sustainability. Yet sustainability has not reached and is arguably still far away from having entered the ‘mainstream’. Given the relevancy for a better understanding of sustainability at an individual level, in my Master thesis I want to address the following questions:  \begin{enumerate}  \itemWhat does sustainability mean to people from different countries and regions and what are the factors that formed this meaning?  \item  How successful were the existing sustainability promotion programmes in different countries? \item  What is the overall contribution of individual lifestyle changes towards more sustainable behaviour? How could this these changes  be measured in terms of energy savings, GHG emissions, environmental footprint, etc.? and others?  \item What are the motives and drivers behind living a sustainable lifestyle?  \item What are the factors affecting the successful promotion of sustainable lifestyles? How sustainable are these factors in keeping individuals adhere to the changes in practiced lifestyles? \item  What are the main causes for individuals to dismiss sustainable behaviour and revert back to their previous lifestyle in the long term?How stable are sustainable lifestyles with people moving from one country to another?  \end{enumerate}In adressing these questions, I want to investigate how and why do specific population segments, i.e. low income households or upper income households, respond to sustainable consumption. Furthermore, I want to contribute to a better understanding of the role of culture, traditions and how to they relate to national differences regarding a sustainable way of life. Finally, concerning the success factors for sustainability promotion, I want to analyse what can motivate people to make more sustainable choices and what different types of motivation can be distinguished.  I will use qualitative interviews to evaluate on the effects of sustainability promotions of 'high-sustainable' countries which are generally perceived as front-runners or overhaulers in sustainable development. These are The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and China. I will focus on individuals of these countries who decided to temporarily or permanently move to another country. I will use a material footprint analysis \cite{Lettenmeier_2014} together with questionnaires to investigate how the natural resource use changes if people move from one country to another.