China

Authorities in China have shut down an estimated 40% of all the country’s factories at some point over the past few months in order to undergo government-mandated environmental inspections. Over 80,000 of those facilities have been hit with fines and criminal offenses for environmental violations found. The effort is part of an unprecedented crackdown on pollution in the country, though many factory owners are complaining that the inspections are slowing their production lines and causing them to miss deadlines and make other errors. (Forbes)