Contextualizing the 2030 Agenda’s Revitalised Partnerships for SDG Implementation: Neither a Novelty nor a Revitalisation

Aiming to strengthen business contributions to the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda commits to revitalise partnerships. This article examines that revitalisation against sources of international law on sustainable development aligned with human rights. First, it observes that despite wide acclaim of partnerships as a novelty introduced by the 2030 Agenda, roles for business and references to ‘partnerships’ originated in earlier international soft law on sustainability. Next, the article finds that the 2030 Agenda fails to unlock the potential to ‘revitalize’ the role of businesses as partners for sustainable development, because it applies a singularly state-based orientation to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and neglects to explain their implications for states and for businesses. In combination, these two aspects indicate that the 2030 Agenda was not sufficiently informed by relevant sources of international soft law. The article argues that this contributes to explaining a failure to revitalise partnerships for human rights, and offers suggestions for future global sustainability goals.