Hulot ran as a candidate in the primary for the Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) party in 2011, but lost to Eva Joly in the second round.

[5] From 1973 to 1978, 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.

[4] Hulot left Sipa Press in 1978 to move to France Inter after being offered work as a radio journalist and producer.

Hulot presented the television programme, Ushuaïa, le magazine de l'extrême which was focused around extreme sport and natural landscapes throughout the world.

[14] On 13 April 2011, while speaking in Sevran, Seine-Saint-Denis, Nicolas Hulot announced his candidacy in the Europe Écologie-Les Verts primary for the 2012 French presidential election.

For the French presidential election of 2012, Nicolas Hulot stated that he had voted for the Left Front's candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, during the first round.

This is following Hulot turning down offers for ministerial positions from Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande's governments.

)[19] 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.

[24] 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.

[28][29] 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.

[30] The Guardian wrote that "Hulot's departure is a major blow to Macron and calls into question the president's credibility on the environment".

[36] In February 2018, French magazine Ebdo [fr] reported that Hulot had been accused of sexual assault, related to events that took place in the 1990s.

[38] In 2021, French investigative news show Envoyé spécial announced that it would be releasing a documentary in which a further six women accused Hulot of assaulting them.

[39] Before the broadcast of the documentary, Hulot appeared on BFM TV to deny the allegations and to announce that he would be retiring from public life.