Europe’s environmental taxonomy system is working so well it is being extended to cover everything else.

The system is very advanced. It works by putting each part of the economy into one of two categories, “Good” or “Bad”. Everything that is Good is encouraged. Everything that is Bad is not.

The system made headlines recently when, thanks to some good old-fashioned log rolling between Germany and France, the European Union declared nuclear and natural gas are green technologies.

As a result, Eurocrats who until a few weeks ago were doing everything they could to stop investment in nuclear and gas will now do everything they can to drive investment into those technologies. Such is the power of the taxonomy.

Now this marvel of bureaucratic machinery is to be pointed at the rest of society.

A new social taxonomy will decide whether companies are “Good” or “Bad”. Officials will use their powers to shift investment towards Good companies and away from Bad companies.

Many factors will decide whether a company is Good. Companies will need to pay fair wages, and provide training and childcare for employees. Companies will have to prove they benefit customers and society as a whole. Companies which import goods will need to prove they pay fair wages to overseas workers. Housing companies must show they have built enough social houses.

Companies will also need to pay their taxes and protect their customers’ data.

This list is real.

Companies that sell tobacco or make landmines will automatically be listed as Bad.

Not everyone is happy about the new system. One politician sensibly pointed out financial regulation should not control how we live our everyday lives. Social policy should.

"In Europe we have the highest social standards in the world,” said German MEP Markus Ferber. “Socio-political questions should be solved through social policy and not through financial market regulation.”

This is all excellent news for the economy. The new social taxonomy will create thousands of jobs, millions probably, in the services sector. Specifically, the lobbying-for-political-favours part of services. The new system will benefit everyone – regulators, politicians, lawyers, lobbyists, liquidators. The list goes on and on.

The new taxonomy was badly needed. Without any way to force companies to work in the public interest (besides competition and free enterprise), officials must have been getting desperate.

There really is nothing officials cannot do. Finally, Europe can look forward to some growth.