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China Shuts Down Tens Of Thousands Of Factories In Widespread Pollution Crackdown (msn.com)
Buildings in China are shrouded in smog. From a report: China has implemented an unprecedented pollution crackdown in recent months as the country shuts down tens of thousands of factories. The effort is part of a national effort to address China's infamous pollution and has affected wide swaths of China's manufacturing sector. In total, it is estimated that 40 percent of all China's factories have been shut down at some point in order to be inspected by environmental bureau officials. As a result of these inspections over 80,000 factories have been hit with fines and criminal offenses as a result of their emissions. Safety officials have been moving from province to province (30 in total so far) shutting down factories as well as electricity and gas as they inspect the factories for meeting emissions requirements. This has resulted in late and missed orders, increased costs, and could ultimately result in higher prices on US shelves.
China's main political push right now is preventing societal instability... the government is doing so with quite a heavy hand when it comes to politics with severe harassment of journalists, lawyers, and activists. One thing that has been a major source of unrest in the past is riots due to insufferable environmental conditions, so this would logically fit on the list of things to do towards quelling unrest. So it's part of a mixed bag from a moral perspective.
Despite a better commitment to renewables than the U.S has, China is playing catch-up and has a long way to close the gap in environmental protections... but hey, since we are currently backsliding at the federal level that makes catching up easier for them at least, I guess...
Someone had to do it.