WordPress wp_list_categories() shows no categories in 1/3 environments

Any tips or tricks to help debug this further would be much appreciated.

Scenario:

In 1/3 server environments, the wp_list_categories() function is returning: ‘No categories’, while the remaining 2 display as expected. As it’s _production behaving badly, I’m a limited in visible debugging.

Environments:

• _dev – localhost, using most current database from _production
• _staging – same server, same database host as _production
• _production – shows no categories in list wp_list_categories()

Debug so far:

• Ensure posts are categorized, which they are, in a hierarchy
• Ensure the _prod templates and database was synced to my _dev environment
• Use strict php debug mode to remove any errors, even if they were non-breaking
• Disabled single additional plug-in added in _prod
• Admin panel categories also reflect this issue with 819 counted, and ‘No categories’ found listed.
• Looked for similar issues on StackOverflow/Search Engines

Code:

            <?php

                $args = array(
                'orderby'            => 'name',
                'order'              => 'ASC',
                'show_last_update'   => 0,
                'style'              => 'list',
                'show_count'         => 0,
                'hide_empty'         => 0,
                'use_desc_for_title' => 1,
                'child_of'           => 0,
                'hierarchical'       => true,
                'title_li'           => __( '' ),
                'show_option_none'   => __('No categories'),
                'number'             => NULL,
                'echo'               => 1,
                'depth'              => 1,
                'pad_counts'         => 0,
                'taxonomy'           => 'career-location' );
                wp_list_categories( $args );

            ?>