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'I Haven't Seen The Sun For Almost 20 Days'

As China's President arrived for climate talks in Paris, thick grey smog descended over Beijing and much of northern China.

Authorities in the capital warned residents to stay inside as they issued their highest level pollution alert of the year.

Monitoring stations across the capital reported extremely hazardous air quality levels, with levels of dangerous PM2.5 particles exceeding 600 micrograms per cubic metre.

The tiny particles are particularly damaging as they can travel deep into the lungs - the World Health Organisation considers a safe level of PM2.5 exposure over 24 hours to be 25 micrograms per cubic metre.

Schools and nurseries were told to stop outdoor activities, and construction work was suspended across the city to try to improve the situation.

Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau said the heavy pollution was affecting 23 cities in northern China, with smog stretching across 530,000 sq km - an area the size of Spain.

If world leaders meeting in Paris needed an illustration of the scale and the urgency of the task in front of them, China seemed to be doing its best to oblige.

The country has promised to cut its coal consumption, and promote cleaner forms of energy, with its carbon emissions peaking by around 2030 - but that still leaves at least a decade of emissions growth ahead.

Sky News travelled to Baoding - officially the most polluted city in China, the world's biggest polluter.

The region's heavy industry - the steel and the coal that has fuelled China's growth - has choked the air grey.

Even on a relatively good day, the streets are hazy. People told us the stars in the sky are disappearing.

"When I was young, I could lift my head and see a lot of stars," one elderly lady told us.

"Now I can see nothing, only darkness."

"Look at the sky now, I haven't seen the Sun for almost 20 days," another woman said.

But the central government's stance on this is shifting.

Perhaps motivated by the air quality that affects the lives of so many of its citizens, and therefore their perception of the Communist Party's rule, China appears to be trying to recast itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change.

The planet's worst polluter is now also its biggest investor in renewable energy technology.

Baoding, which has been designated a 'low-carbon zone', is also home to Yingli Solar,one of the world’s largest producers of solar panels.

Inside, we were picked up in one of the company's solar-powered golf buggies and taken for a tour through their vision of a solar-powered future, which includes an entire building made from solar panels.

Fan Linqing, deputy head of one of the production lines, showed us proudly around the facility.

Born and raised in Baoding, his motivation for working here is personal.

"I'm now married and have a child, so I'm not only concerned about myself, but for my next generation," he explained.

"The air pollution is quite severe now, I'm quite worried about it.

"Our company and this industry, in my opinion, can have a big impact on solving the air pollution problem."

Next door, we saw the huge robots that turn out thousands of units every day.

China now makes two-thirds of the world's solar panels, and increasingly, many of those orders are heading to domestic destinations here at home.

But if this all sounds too good to be true - it is.

I asked a company spokesman how the factory itself was powered.

He told us that 4% currently comes from solar energy, the rest is from the national grid.

So 96% of the power for this green energy plant still comes from comes from conventional, polluting sources.

For all of the rhetoric in Paris, there is clearly still some way to go.