1. Nicolas Hulot is the founder and honorary president of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, an environmental group established in 1990.
29 Facts About Nicolas Hulot
1. 2.
Nicolas Hulot declined offers to be a government minister for Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, but in May 2017, he agreed to serve under Emmanuel Macron and was appointed Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition in the first government of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.
3.
Nicolas Hulot is an officer in the Legion of Honour and a knight in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
4.
Gonzaga Nicolas Hulot committed suicide on 24 December 1974 when Nicolas Hulot was 19 years old.
5.
Nicolas Hulot took up rallying as a hobby when he was growing up and took part in the 1980 Dakar Rally, though he didn't finish the race due to difficulties with his vehicle.
6.
From 1973 to 1978, Nicolas Hulot worked as an agency photographer for Sipa Press where he documented the 1976 Guatemala earthquake and interviewed Ian Smith during the Rhodesian Bush War.
7.
Nicolas Hulot left Sipa Press in 1978 to move to France Inter after being offered work as a radio journalist and producer.
8.
Nicolas Hulot debuted on television during the children's program Les Visiteurs du mercredi.
9.
Nicolas Hulot presented the short-lived educational programme Les Pieds au mur.
10.
Nicolas Hulot presented the television programme, Ushuaia, le magazine de l'extreme which was focused around extreme sport and natural landscapes throughout the world.
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Nicolas Hulot went on to present Operation Okavango and Ushuaia Nature.
12.
In 1990, Hulot founded the Ushuaia Foundation which became La Fondation Nicolas-Hulot pour la nature et l'homme in 1995 and which changed its name to La Fondation pour la nature et l'homme in April 2011.
13.
Nicolas Hulot set up partnerships for the Foundation with companies such as EDF, L'Oreal and TF1.
14.
In 2007, Nicolas Hulot told candidates in the presidential election that he would stand as a candidate if ecology were not one of the main themes of the election.
15.
On 13 April 2011, while speaking in Sevran, Seine-Saint-Denis, Nicolas Hulot announced his candidacy in the Europe Ecologie-Les Verts primary for the 2012 French presidential election.
16.
The announcement came a month after Nicolas Hulot's calls for a referendum on nuclear energy following the Fukushima nuclear accident.
17.
Nicolas Hulot lost during the second round and Joly became the Europe Ecologie-Les Verts candidate.
18.
Nicolas Hulot said he found Melenchon more efficient on environmental issues than Joly.
19.
On 6 July 2017, Nicolas Hulot announced the government's five-year plan to outlaw all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040.
20.
On 10 July 2017, Nicolas Hulot said on RTL Radio that France may close up to 17 nuclear reactors by 2025 in a new plan to reduce its share of nuclear power.
21.
On 28 August 2018, Nicolas Hulot resigned as Minister of Ecology during a live interview on France Inter radio, citing President Emmanuel Macron's record on environmental issues and his own frustration over feeling alone in prioritising reform.
22.
Nicolas Hulot said that his time in office had been an "accumulation of disappointments", and that he did not want to "create the illusion that we're facing up to these challenges".
23.
The Guardian wrote that "Nicolas Hulot's departure is a major blow to Macron and calls into question the president's credibility on the environment".
24.
Nicolas Hulot received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Mons in 2019.
25.
Nicolas Hulot has been criticised by some commentators, like Le Canard enchaine and supporters of uneconomic growth and political ecology, who have criticised his use of the media and acceptance of funds from large firms, like EDF, L'Oreal and Rhone-Poulenc.
26.
Nicolas Hulot was in a relationship with Dominique Cantien, the TF1 director.
27.
Nicolas Hulot married world champion rock-climber Isabelle Patissier in Saint-Malo on 2 September 1993.
28.
Nicolas Hulot remarried in Viens on 2 October 2002 to Florence Lasserre, a former municipal councillor and mother to his two sons.
29.
In 2021, French investigative news show Envoye special announced that it would be releasing a documentary in which a further six women accused Nicolas Hulot of assaulting them.