The 21st century will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life. The 20th century saw the end of European dominance of global politics and economics. The 21st century will see the end of American dominance too, as new powers, including China, India and Brazil, continue to grow and make their voices heard on the world stage. Yet the century's changes will be even deeper than a rebalancing of economics and geopolitics. The challenges of sustainable development—protecting the environment, stabilizing the world's population, narrowing the gaps of rich and poor and ending extreme poverty—will render passéthe very idea of competing nation-states that scramble for markets, power and resources. 

    The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet. We have reached the beginning of the century with 6.6 billion people living in an interconnected global economy producing an astounding $60 trillion of output each year. Human beings fill every ecological niche on the planet, from the icy tundra to the tropical rain forests to the deserts. In some locations, societies have outstripped the carrying capacity of the land, resulting in chronic hunger, environmental degradation and a large-scale exodus of desperate populations.

    We also face a momentous choice. Continue on our current course, and the world is likely to experience growing conflicts between haves and have-nots, intensifying environmental catastrophes and downturns in living standards caused by interlocking crises of energy, water, food and violent conflict. Yet for a small annual investment of world income, undertaken cooperatively across the world, our generation can harness new technologies for clean energy, reliable food supplies, disease control and the end of extreme poverty. 

    21世紀將推翻許多有關經濟生活的基本假設。20世紀歐洲在全球政治和經濟的主導地位結束。21世紀隨著中國、印度和巴西等新興強國的國際地位進一步加強，美國的主導地位也將結束。然而，本世紀的變化遠比經濟和地緣政治的重新平衡要深刻。可持續發展的挑戰：保護環境、穩定世界人口、縮小貧富差距和消除極端貧窮將使得國家間為爭奪市場、權力和資源而相互競爭的想法變得過時。

    21世紀明確的挑戰將面對這樣一個現實：在一個擁擠的星球上，人類分享一個共同的命運。本世紀已開始，66億人口生活在一個相互聯系、每年有驚人的60萬億美元產值的全球經濟中。從凍土地帶到熱帶雨林再到沙漠，人類占據著每一處生態壁龕。在有些地方，人類社會的生存已經超越了土地的承載能力，造成持續的饑餓、環境惡化和絕望人口的大規模出走。

    我們也面臨一個重大的選擇，繼續我們現行的道路，這個世界將可能經歷更多的貧富間的沖突，加劇環境災難和由能源、水、食品和暴力沖突的連鎖危機造成的生活水平的下降。然而，全世界聯合行動，每年從世界收入中拿出一小部分來投資，我們這代人就能掌握使用清潔能源，提供可靠的食品和控制疾病的新技術并消除極端貧窮。