London Mayor appoints Mete Coban as new environment deputy

Hackney Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, Cllr Mete Coban, announced he will be stepping down as a councillor following his appointment as the Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy.

Mete Coban, serviced as Hackney’s cabinet member for climate change, environment and transport, as well as a councillor for Stoke Newington, announced the news on X, formerly Twitter.

He said he was “honoured” to be appointed to the role by Sadiq Khan.

Mr Coban will receive a salary of £147,769 and is due to start work on Thursday (25 July).

Announcing the role, he said: “The Mayor has introduced world-leading policies on climate action and I am hugely excited to bring my experience to this city-wide effort”.

Mr Khan said on X that he was “delighted” to appoint Mr Coban to the position.

“I look forward to welcoming him to City Hall as we continue our world-leading action to tackle the climate crisis, clean up our air and rivers and grow the green economy,” he said.

Shirley Rodrigues stepped down from the role in May after the mayoral elections. She held the position for more than seven years.

Mr Coban is currently chief executive of the campaigning group My Life My Say, which seeks to increase youth voter turnout and for which he received an MBE in 2020 for services to young people.

The group’s partnership with Lime Bike recently came under scrutiny, external after the e-bike rental company won a £2 million contract to run the bikes in Hackney in early 2022.

He also was part of the team of volunteers who helped Mr Khan become Labour’s mayoral candidate in 2016 with the campaign slogan #YesWeKhan.

In his political memoir Breathe, Mr Khan credits Mr Coban with devising the #YesWeKhan slogan that helped him to victory – building on a similar slogan used by Barack Obama on his way to become US president.