The conclusion higlights continuing challenges for the EU and the rest of the world and how the future humanity faces is uncertain. Yet an optimistic message is also presented. Noting that shareholder primacy is increasingly coming under question and a growing interest in the concepts of corporate purpose and sustainable value creation, the conclusion draws upon the suggestions made among the chapters throughout the book to highlight the potential for corporations to be a force for good if supported by more effective legal and regulatory reforms and operating with more innovative structures and technologies. More stable, resilient and democratic institutional structures are necessary too as is the inclusion of active political and entrepreneurial women. Also fundamental to change is setting sustainable value creation within planetary boundaries as an overarching purpose for business, with mandatory rules to ensure that sustainability is integrated into the governance of business across global value chains. In a policy coherence for sustainability perspective, the book concludes by positioning the research-based reform proposals for business and finance within broader European Union laws and policies, underlining the necessity of reform also of other related areas, including circular economy policies, competition and state aid law and public procurement.

This chapter engages with the two main instruments resulting from the mandate of the UN Special Representative on BHR (SRSG) between 2005 and 2011, namely the UN Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework and the UN Guiding Principles on BHR (UNGPs). The UN Framework was published in 2008 and establishes the conceptual foundation upon which the UNGPs are built. The UNGPs, on the other hand, can be interpreted as the operationalization of the UN Framework. After distinguishing the SRSG's approach from the earlier UN Draft Norms, the chapter discusses the three pillars of the UN Framework and the UNGPs, consisting of the state duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and access to remedy. Subsequently, it engages in a critical assessment of the UNGPs, outlining both the key achievements and the main criticism of the UNGPs. Such criticism aims at the principled pragmatism underlying the UNGPs, the foundational role of social expectations, the UNGPs’ lack of enforcement, and the distribution of responsibility between government and companies.