In this article, we argue that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be viewed through the lens of the capability approach. The capability approach lens normatively instils the SDGs with positive human rights protection obligations for business actors, obliging business actors to not merely refrain from breaching human rights but to actively provide affected individuals and communities with capabilities that ensure the protection and fulfilment of their human rights. The capability approach perspective also allows us to bring together two parallel regulatory frameworks, that of the SDGs and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which considerably enhances the transformative potential of existing and developing corporate human rights due diligence legislation.