Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, operates in a context shaped by contrasts between thriving consumers and exploited workers and rampant unsustainable practices. This contribution critically discusses the areas of international law that are relevant for SDG 12, with a focus on international trade and investment regimes. It argues that the environmental and human rights agreements currently in force are much weaker than the powerful regimes of international economic law, whose main preoccupation is the liberalization of trade and investment and not the material footprints and redistributive consequences of sustainable production and consumption. With its focus on voluntarism and the lack of reference to key human rights instruments, SDG 12 is likely to reproduce the structural conditions that have generated enormous social and environmental damages rather than providing orientation for much needed transformative change.