France must do more, says minister who resigned live on air

With the nuclear lobby of South Africa apparently suffering a setback yesterday, supporters of the controversial, low-carbon power source had a lift this morning as France's environment and energy minister resigned live on air during a radio show.

Former TV star Nicolas Hulot hit out at a lack of ambition on climate change by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Although Bloomberg is reporting the decision was taken after the president bowed to powerful lobbying to issue more hunting licences – and cited other environmental concerns behind the resignation – Mr. Hulot also hit out at energy policy after the president pulled back from an ambition to reduce the nation's heavy reliance on nuclear power to just 50% of the electricity supply by 2025.

In a video clip of the dramatic resignation – credited to Reuters and published on the UK's Guardian news website – Mr Hulot says, in apparent reference to climate change: “I don't want my presence in this government to be taken to mean that we are doing enough to tackle this challenge.

“On a challenge this serious, I find myself resigned to it every day, adapting to it a little more each day, even though the global situation with a planet that's becoming a sauna requires us to change our scale, change our scope, change our thinking.”

Solar lobbyists will now wait to see which candidate the centre-right, pro-business French president selects to replace Mr. Hulot, with the Guardian reporting the share price of state-owned nuclear agency EDF rose more than 2% in early trading.