Previous studies suggested that, the Fortune Global 500 is an important factor to judge whether a city has the characteristic of a world city. It is a common view that, as the number of Fortune Global 500 companies headquartered in Beijing has increased, it has been getting closer to the goal to become a world city. Based on this point, this paper discusses the green challenges Beijing is facing heading towards a world city, using the methods of comparative research and qualitative research. Challenge 1: Green business, the proportion of resources-based enterprises is too high. Challenge 2: Regional green economy, the unreasonable regional division failed to form the industrial chain. Challenge 3: Green space, the urban space is not of high quality.

The main findings of this research are: Among the Fortune 500 companies located in Beijing, 51 are state-owned monopolistic businesses. About half of the output value is produced by resource-based enterprises. From the regional perspective, the industrial division system is not clear, compared with other World Cities like Newyork and Tokyo. Most of the Fortune 500 companies located on the outskirts of Beijing are dependent on local mineral resources. And the pollutants released by these resource-based enterprises are commonly considered as the main source of Beijing's air pollution. A regional green environment is the fundamental condition for improving the urban environmental quality. And the high quality urban space is one of the key factors attracting talent and advanced producer services.

In order to grow into a world city, three suggestions are proposed in this paper for Beijing. Firstly, shifting from city scale expansion to urban quality improvement. Secondly, promoting green industry and fostering advanced producer services to enhance its impact and influence in global economies. Thirdly, increasing financial input on infrastructure construction and regeneration oriented sustainable development.