(Bloomberg) -- Diplomats from the European Union’s 28 countries agreed to advance with key legislation for green financial products, bringing the bloc a step closer to embedding environmental goals in standards for banks, money managers and insurers.

Envoys signed off on a deal on the EU’s list of sustainable activities after more lenient wording on the inclusion of nuclear energy won the backing of countries including France and the U.K., according to an official involved in the talks, who asked not to be named, in line with policy. A first attempt to strike a deal last week failed amid divisions over the role that nuclear energy should play in the framework.

The EU’s list of sustainable activities for investment purposes, dubbed “taxonomy,” is the centerpiece of its push to regulate the fast growing market of green finance, in the hope of directing trillions of euros to fund a radical revision of the region’s economy. It’s meant to define what’s green and what’s not, an effort that could find a range of uses and serve as an example for governments around the world.

The difficulty of agreeing on the rules shows what kind of obstacles the EU has to overcome to meet its ambitious climate targets. Leaders last week agreed that the bloc should achieve zero net emissions in 2050, paving the way for a flurry of legislation that’s needed for the unprecedented clean-up of the economy.

The member states now have to present their compromise to the European Parliament, which has been critical of allowing fossil fuels and nuclear power to be classified as sustainable and thus eligible to be financed with green bonds and similar financial products.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Weber in Brussels at aweber45@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Nikos Chrysoloras, Richard Bravo

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