,  By  T-VINE

Hackney politician Mete Coban takes up new role as Sadiq Khan’s environmental chief

Mete Coban has quit his day job at My Life, My Say and role as a Hackney Councillor to take up a new position at City Hall as Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy.

The northeast London politician announced his new role on X (formerly Twitter) last week, “I’m honoured to be appointed by Sadiq Khan as his new Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy.

“The Mayor has introduced world-leading policies on climate action and I am hugely excited to bring my experience to this city-wide effort.”

Mete has sat on Hackney Councillor for the past ten years, serving in a variety of roles. When he was first elected as councillor for Stoke Newington ward in 2014 aged 21, Mete became the borough’s youngest ever councillor.

For the past three years, Mete has been the driving force behind Hackney Council’s green agenda as the Cabinet Member responsible for Climate Change, Environment and Transport. His achievements include expanding the number of low traffic neighbourhoods in Hackney, to rolling out 3,000 EV chargers, and launching the Community Energy Fund.

Mete, who recently celebrated his 32nd birthday, also launched the UK’s first Residential Solar programme, which aims to cut electricity bills for council tenants. This ambitious project will generate 1MW of energy across Hackney’s council estates through the installation of 4,000 solar panels on estate rooftops and an innovative microgrid solution.

Not content with local politics, Mete, who was born in North Cyprus and is of Turkish and Turkish Cypriot heritage, has also been prolific in getting young people engaged in politics. He set up his own charity, My Life, My Say (MLMS), in 2013, using a variety of channels, such as democracy cafes and youth summits, to encourage more young people to become politically active, including championing representation from marginalised communities.

The organisation’s voter registration campaign, Give an X, has had unprecedented success, reaching 4 million young people, including registering nearly half a million new voters ahead of the 2024 General Election. MLMS recently partnered the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change to co-host The Future of Britain, which attracted keynote speakers to discuss how artificial intelligence will transform public services and government.

Throughout his political journey, Mete has always highlighted his pride in his Turkish immigrant roots. He and his family arrived in UK from the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus some 20 years ago, so his brother could receive vital medical treatment.

Mete joined the Labour Party soon after and ended up getting involved in a youth engagement project in the run up to the 2010 election, which included meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Downing Street.

In 2021, Mete was awarded an MBE for his “services to young people”. At the time, he wrote on Twitter, “…born in Northern Cyprus, raised in Hackney, with two immigrant parents whose dad is a cab driver and mum is a care worker. I dedicate this honour to the youth of Hackney – keep fighting to make this world a better place ✊🏼✊🏾”