Rio + 20 should be about big thinking and a re-shaping of current processes if we are to effectively deal with the two greatest challenges of our times, climate change and eradication of poverty. The reappraisal of current approaches is an acknowledgement that the paradigm shaped twenty years ago has not been able to deal with the forces unleashed by the industrial revolution. The biophysical limits to growth agreed at Cancun means that the global goal of shared prosperity cannot be considered only in terms of environmental damage and must give equal emphasis to eradication of poverty. The transformative impact of the rise of China, by modifying growth pathways, is shaping the new paradigm at the Rio + 20 Summit, with very different relationships between the state, market and citizens, to focus on patterns of resource use that can in principle be adopted by all countries.