Beijing's air quality ranked third from the bottom among China's 31 provincial capitals and municipalities, Beijing News reported.

The 2012 China Environment Green Paper was composed and published on April 19 by Friends of Nature, an environmental protection NGO.

The green paper analyzes China's serious polluting accidents of the last year, and concludes that usually after such accidents, no preventative actions were taken.

It was a delightful beginning that citizens in Beijing launched an action to monitor PM 2.5, leading to a non-government environmental protection campaign.

The president of Friends of Nature said it was absolutely necessary to change the temporary remedy situation and come up with a prevention-first administration mode. Public participation was likely to become the major power in improving the environment.

2011 China Provincial Capitals and Municipalities Environment Rankings

　　1 Haikou

　　2 Kunming

　　3 Lhasa

　　4 Guangzhou

　　5 Fuzhou

　　6 Nanning

　　7 Guiyang

　　8 Hohhot

　　9 Nanchang

　　10 Changchun

　　11 Changsha

　　12 Shanghai

　　13 Yinchuan

　　14 Hangzhou

　　15 Shenyang

　　16 Chongqing

　　17 Tianjin

　　18 Shijiazhuang

　　19 Chengdu

　　20 Nanjing

　　21 Jinan

　　22 Xining

　　23 Harbin

　　24 Zhengzhou

　　25 Taiyuan

　　26 Wuhan

　　27 Xi'an

　　28 Hefei

　　29 Beijing

　　30 Urumqi

　　31 Lanzhou

(Rankings measured the days with first-grade and second-grade air quality in a year. Data are from air quality daily reports issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.)