大象传媒

A letter sent to the Bangladeshi government suggests that Beijing may be clamping down on the biggest source of carbon emissions.

Justin Rowlatt speaks to the journalist who got the scoop - Jagaran Chakma of the Daily Star newspaper in Bangladesh. His nation is one of dozens of developing countries that need to build up their power sector, and had been looking to China to finance new coal-fired power stations under the Belt and Road initiative - something the letter pointedly said that Beijing would no longer do.

So could China be preparing to take a much harder line against coal than advertised - at home as well as abroad? And what does it all mean for the big Cop 26 climate negotiations due later this year? Justin speaks to researcher Rebecca Ray of Boston University, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and former United Nations climate negotiator Christiana Figueres.

Producers: Szu Ping Chan; Laurence Knight

(Picture: Street vendors and customers gather at a local market outside a state owned coal fired power plant in Huainan, China; Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)