EU states agree to delay classification of green finance to December 2022

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Representatives of European Union governments agreed on Wednesday to delay the application of a classification of sustainable financial products to the end of 2022 and did not rule out that investments in nuclear and coal could be deemed "green".

The decision would postpone by more than two years the application of the EU green "taxonomy", which the EU Commission had proposed to introduce from mid-2020.

The text agreed by EU governments needs the approval of lawmakers in the European Parliament, who had proposed to exclude investments in nuclear energy and coal-fired plants from future lists of green investments.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)