A foul smell permeates the air in this gray mining town. People rarely open their windows as thick smoke billows from the huge chimneys of Serbia's main coal-fired power station.
Things are only getting worse for residents living close to the Kostolac power plant complex in eastern Serbia, which is being expanded with a USD 715 million loan from a Chinese state bank and constructed by one of China's largest companies.
When US President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew from the Paris agreement on tackling global climate change in 2017, China was seen as the champion in the battle to cut carbon emissions and prevent a global environmental catastrophe.
Experts say China is tackling pollution at home by implementing renewable energy projects and reducing the use of coal, by far the most polluting fossil fuel. But abroad, China is pursuing a different strategy.
Chinese companies are the world's largest investors in overseas coal plants. They are involved in building about a fifth of new coal-fired energy capacity around the world, mostly in the countries along its ambitious "Belt and Road" investment program, which is seen in the West as an attempt by China to globally increase its political and economic influence.
Beijing has issued guidelines on foreign investments, urging environmentally friendly practices. But a major worry is that the guidelines aren't binding and that the power stations are built mostly in developing states that have low pollution emission standards, or no set standards at all.
"The (Chinese) central government explicitly stipulated that all 'Belt and Road' initiative projects should be green and low-carbon projects," China's special representative for climate change affairs, Xie Zhenhua, said in Beijing.
"Therefore, all projects underway introduced the most advanced technology to save resources and energy, and do its utmost to ensure emission reduction."