The Finnish parliament has passed legislation banning cargo ships from discharging wastewater in the country’s coastal waters. The law will become effective next July.
“This is a huge achievement. Major environmental victories are rare, but this decision is truly world-class. No other country has enacted such ambitious laws,” Ville Wahlberg, CEO of the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG), told Yle, Finland’s national broadcasting corporation .
Neighbours Sweden and Denmark are looking at introducing similar measures with the Baltic, already an emissions control area, one of the world’s most protected seas.