Over the summer, the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, spent a day in Silicon Valley trying to persuade tech leaders to play their part in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN’s new global framework that will guide development policies, priorities, and aid flows over the next fifteen years. “I need your support,” he reportedly pleaded. “You are the most brilliant innovators. What matters is that some creative and innovative people who have the entrepreneurial capacity help these visions be carried out.”

“That,” he told them, “is what the United Nations needs.”

It wasn’t the first time the UN chief expressed his faith in the intentions, creativity, and strategies of capital. For years he has touted big business as a “truly transformative force” whose goodwill and resources provide a “unique opportunity” to drive sustainable development.