France will outlaw the sale of all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, its new environment minister, Nicolas Hulot, has announced.

It will also ban any “new project to use petrol, gas or coal”, as well as shale oil, by that date.

The radical measures were unveiled at a press conference as part of French president Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to “make the planet great again”.

Mr Hulot, a former star wildlife TV presenter, announced “the end of the sale of petrol or vehicles between now and 2040" and a pledge to make France carbon neutral by 2050. "The carbon neutral objective will force us to make the necessary investments," he added.