round. Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition On 17 May 2017 he was appointed Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition. This is following Hulot turning down offers for ministerial positions from Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande's governments. The position's responsibilities are focused around climate, air pollution, energy and transport. (The latter being done in collaboration with Transport minister, Élisabeth Borne.) On 24 June 2017, he joined Emmanuel Macron in calling for the adoption of a Global Pact for the Environment along with public figures such as Laurent Fabius, Anne Hidalgo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Ban Ki-moon. On 6 July 2017, Hulot announced the government's five-year plan to outlaw all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040. The plan would also attempt to make France carbon-neutral by 2050. Financial incentives would be offered to people who try to look for cleaner alternatives. This followed a proposal by Norway to ban all petrol and diesel vehicle sales by 2025. On 10 July 2017, 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. Liberal think-tank Institut Montaigne released a report stating that the plan to convert from nuclear energy to wind and solar will cost €217 billion by 2035. In 2016, France's Court of Audit estimated that prolonging the lifespan of France's nuclear reactors would cost €100 billion. France currently derives 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear power. In December 2017, to combat global warming, France adopted a law banning new fossil fuel exploitation projects and closing current ones by 2040 in all of its territories, becoming the first country to schedule the end of fossil fuel exploitation. On 28 August 2018, 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. He 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". The Guardian wrote that "Hulot's departure is a major blow to Macron and calls into question the president's credibility on the environment". Nicolas Hulot received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Mons in 2019. Criticism Hulot has been criticised by some commentators, like Le