S TANDING IN THE middle of a huge coastal mud flat, Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s president, announced in October the beginning of “a new 1,000-year energy history” for his country. Behind him stretched a field of solar panels; a large windmill loomed in the background. The area, called Saemangeum, was dammed with the world’s largest seawall under a previous administration. Mr Moon wants it to become home to wind farms and solar plants capable of generating 4 GW of power, to give South Korea a “brighter future”.

The site has unfortunate associations. The seawall, conceived in the early 1990s to reclaim land for agriculture, is the country’s most famous white elephant. It cost billions to build, but by the time it was completed, in 2010, there was little demand for new farmland. Environmentalists, meanwhile, lamented the destruction of an important way-station for migratory birds. Local fishermen complained their catches had shrunk. The vast expanse of stagnant, brackish water trapped behind the dyke hardly speaks of a greener future.

Yet a greener future is needed. By Mr Moon’s own admission, South Korea lags “embarrassingly behind” other countries when it comes to renewable energy. In 2017 43% of its electricity came from coal-fired plants, up from 39% the year before (the increase is because of another of Mr Moon’s policies, the slow phase-out of nuclear power). Emissions of greenhouse gases are rising, even though South Korea is a signatory to the Paris climate agreement and has pledged to reduce them to 20% below the level of 2010 by 2030. In April the government said it would increase renewables’ share of generation from the present 6% to 20% by 2030 and to 35% by 2040.

The commitment is timely. South Korean voters are increasingly sensitive to environmental matters, particularly the fine dust that blankets the country for large parts of the year. Scrutiny of coal-fired power plants and other industries is growing, and the authorities are backing away from their long-standing claim that most air pollution is blown in from China, and so is out of their hands.