Siddo: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome back to The Better Places Podcast. Uh, on this episode we're featuring Met Koban, London's Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy. Welcome, met. How's it going? Uh, over the last year, met has become a leading voice in shaping how London responds to the climate emergency, not just through policy, um, but through delivery.

Cleaning up our air, retrofitting our new. Our homes and making our rivers more swimmable, um, and embedding climate justice into the city's future. Um, from growing up in Hackney to becoming a counselor at just the age of 21, metes journey is grounded in his lived experience. Deep understanding and a clear sense of who must benefit from the transition to a greener city.

Uh, his role now touches nearly every corner of London life. Uh, from the air we breathe to the energy that powers our homes, uh, to the places in the neighborhoods being shaped for the next. Generation. [00:01:00] Um, in this episode, um, we're going to explore what it really means to deliver, not just, uh, a just transition in practice, uh, but how climate ambition translates into cleaner streets, lower bills, better spaces, and good jobs, and how we hold onto public trust and local power, uh, as the pace of change accelerates.

You've got a big job on your hands. Miss it.

Mete: Yeah, I do. Yeah.

Siddo: Welcome to the

Mete: show. Yeah, well, thanks so much for having me.

Siddo: No, no, absolutely Long overdue. Long and long overdue. And, uh, Lety and I have known each other for a very, very long time. Uh, and indeed he's, um, you know, disrespect to any of your deputy mayors and indeed the mayor of London City can.

But you are high flying and your, your diary is something that, that many should watch 'cause you are often darting from one part of London to the next. Um. So, marking your year as deputy mayor, um, could you just tell us a bit more about you, [00:02:00] um, what your background, uh, kinda entails and, um, what surprised you most about your first

Mete: year in the job?

Yeah, look, I mean, I'm not, uh, as I always say, I'm not a traditional environmentalist and I don't make that I secret. But partly the reason why I care about this issue is because growing up in Hackney and where I grew up, uh, on my estate. Actually it was, you know, going home and seeing your parents opening up their energy bills year on year end, seeing an increase in their energy prices because we're dependent on fossil fuels and every time something happens around the world, it's working class Londoners who have to pay the price for it.

Or you know, like even city, like you know, when you are out in the state playing with your friends. I remember at a very young age just, you know, coughing and you know, mom taking me to the GP and then being given an asthma inhaler pump. Um, and being really worried, what is this thing mom that they're giving me?

And actually, the, the point I'm trying to make is, is the communities who've done the least cause both the air quality and climate [00:03:00] crisis that we live in are those who are impacted most. So for me, this is very much an issue of social justice, racial justice, and economic, uh, justice. But it's also a huge opportunity for us to think about how we can reduce wealth.

For using the green transition to really uplift every Londoner. Mm. Um, and so, you know, I, I, coming into the story, it's, it's a huge privilege, uh, to be able to serve. You know, sometimes I have to pinch myself to think, wow, you know, like someone like me from my background, uh, represents the city as a deputy mayor.

Um, and you know, the bit that I love about my job, honestly, and it's the best reflection that I've had over the last year. It's just. Meeting so many incredible Londoners and organizations who every day make a difference, uh, to make a big difference for the community and the neighborhoods that they live in.

Ultimately, this is about, like you said in your intro, which is around London being not just a place to live, to work, but actually a thriving place where people enjoy, uh, living. And that's what we're here to help Londoners, uh, achieve.

Siddo: You know, there, [00:04:00] there's so much to unpack there. Not, not only did you step into public life quite early, and, uh, like to touch a bit on some of the work that, uh, helped make a name for, for yourself and also the borough that you represented.

Lean on things like climate and transport and clean air and hackney. Um. That's actually one of the, might be one of the best articulations for why your role is so important. Um, could you tell me a bit more about your experience in Hackney, uh, as a current member there, and what stuck with you from ex from that experience as you now moved into

Mete: your citywide role?

Yeah. Look, Hackney's a special place for so many reasons. It's got over a hundred languages, uh, spoken. The borough, you know, one of the most diverse communities. Biggest Turkish, Kurdish community. Huge Black African Caribbean community. Biggest Orthodox Jewish community outside of New York in the western world.

Um, you know, biggest Vietnamese community in London because you represented Stock Newton Stoke Newton, yeah. Which

Siddo: for anyone who, um. Cutting food parts of London, whether you're on a bus or, or, or the A 10 or, or [00:05:00] even the a 10 if you are, if you are sort, sort of unlucky to drive. Uh, yeah. It's such a prominent part of, of London.

It is, it is one of the most recognizable, it's quite amazing food. Well, indeed. Yeah. 'cause you've got all the best kebab. Best kebab, the famous best cave. Well, and then there's that, uh, that bagel spot, which, uh, the 24 hour bagel start shop. Yeah. Probably been there a bit too late sometimes. You know, you're starting into I do indeed.

Partly through you, but also it, it's, it's a. It, it is kind of the heart. Well, Enfield is a beating heart of, uh, of North London, but I'll let you have that as the host. It's one of those places in, in London that so many people recognize. Um, but again, just on your role, what, what changes came about in, uh, Hackney, but also in, in the area that you represented that really speak to your fight for, um, social but justice, but also that kind of just transition.

Mete: Yeah, look, I think one of the powers of being a local government is that you're actually doing. Leading on change that is like the bread and butter of like community politics actually doing things that have an impact the [00:06:00] next day. So, you know, everything we were doing around the School Streets initiative, for example, you know, um, making air much quality, much more better outside of school.

So we saw when we introduced the school streets 52 school streets before our listeners. And the school street is essentially, what is it? School street opening and closing time of schools. Would close the streets, um, outside of the school, so only meant vehicles. Um, and those living in the area would be able to go there.

Um, and what, this might be an obvious question, but why? Because some of our school playgrounds are really badly polluted. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Um, and so since we brought in those school streets, we saw that tailpipe admissions outside our school gate. Went down by 74%. Wow. That means that so many kids across our city who are being brought, who brought up with stunted lungs, never gonna be able to breathe the full capacity of their lungs because of a, a crisis that they didn't cause in the first place are now able to breathe much, much more better air quality, um, more kids cycling to school, more kids walking to school.

Um, the stuff we were doing around like, uh, you know, greening, putting more [00:07:00] street trees had. Heat waves this year. Mm. We're gonna need more street trees because we need more cooler temperatures across our streets. Um, you know, the work that we were doing in Hackney when it came to, you know, getting more clean energy and community energy across our buildings, um, I worked on this really interesting project, um, which was called the Residential Solar Project.

It was a pilot we were working on with Off Gem and with Des n and basically we went to council estates where we installed one megawatt of energy, solar power. Uh, so 4,000 solar panels. We've had solar panels on council states before. The difference with this one was that residents could tap into the energy generated on the roof of the state.

Wow. Knocks off about 10, 15% off their energy bills at a time where people's pockets are pinched. It's so important that we're able to support some of London's most vulnerable residents. So, you know, I think the best bit about local government and the bit that I miss, if I'm quite frank, actually. Although you get to do that at City Hall too, is you're so close to people's, uh, day to day and you can actually make a big difference, uh, to their livelihoods and yeah, I think local government is, [00:08:00] you know, I'm very proud of my time as a serving in Hackney.

Siddo: Indeed and, um, your brief touches in every aspect of life in, in London and for Londons. And again, these kind of real practical measures I think helps the justify the argument towards the green transition, but puts in kinda practical scope for many families what it really means for you doing your job, especially with those silent voices that will claim otherwise.

Um. I think it is right to say that you've call this London's kind of decade of delivery when it comes to clean energy homes, water neighborhoods, um, what does delivery look like in practice

Mete: at a more citywide level? So for me, delivery at citywide level, what that looks like is essentially is being able to facilitate.

Actually practically getting things done and what London is expect to see, uh, from those and us in power. Um, so, you know, I'm working on a big project at the moment, for example, because we know that we're starting to deal with the impacts of climate change, particularly around like flooding. Um, [00:09:00] so we've got much more sustainable urban drainage systems that we're rolling out across the city.

The,

Siddo: the, the infamous suds. Suds,

Mete: yeah. And suds essentially are really important. 'cause what it does. It's like a natural reservoir underneath, uh, the surface, which slows down the filtration. It slows down the speed of the water that goes into our water streams, but it also cleans the water that goes into our water streams.

So actually that's part of our cleaning the Healthy waterways plan, which I'll talk a bit about and what we're gonna do around our rivers too. But that's like a very practical thing that we're doing to deliver the work we're doing on retrofit. Um, you spoke about in your intro, you know, we've just announced, uh, 22,000 homes that will have improved energy efficiency.

Um, so, you know, for me it's about, you know, what can we practically do, uh, in this, within this mayoral term that we're just focused on relentlessly on delivery, the work we're doing around creating more access to green space. Mm-hmm. There's so much that we're, we're currently working on city hall and actually in the last 12 months.

Has just been constant announcement of new things that we're delivering. The greener school stuff. Mm-hmm. Getting solar panels across 48 [00:10:00] schools in London, saving 15,000 pound on their energy bills per year, which they can otherwise use for, you know, like activities for children towards TAs, whatever it may be down to the school, but it's just getting stuff done, which is what London is want to see.

Siddo: Well indeed and the London Growth Plan speak speaks, um, a lot about, uh, kind of fair and greener economy and you, you've touched on many aspects of that from the, the environment and how suds are. Uh, making our areas more livable, but I'm really quite intrigued. Uh, not used because I'm trying to get back into swimming myself, into making our rivers more swimmable.

I can't swim. Well, someone's gonna have to jump in when there I was ready. I I did check. And, uh, Nuffield, uh, has a membership, a tenor, uh, for pack of 10 or something per, per, per session if you ever interested. Yeah. I'm very

Mete: beginner. I can't even float

Siddo: really?

Mete: No.

Siddo: Did you not go to like, uh, was it year in, year 10 and, uh, not year 10.

Sorry, five year

Mete: five and six? No, in my time in Hackney in schools didn't have, um Oh, wow. Yeah, they didn't have, and I had a very bad experience because, um, [00:11:00] my brother took me to Britannia Leisure Center. When I was at four, put me down the slides coming down into a six foot drop. Oh God. I was really enjoying it until I went in the water and it didn't come back up, and then they had to take me out.

So I'm still dealing with the fear of that. We, you still,

Siddo: we used to work on that by the time you guys cleaned up the rivers, but Well, the river tens, which is an ambitious plan, isn't it?

Mete: Well, one thing I would say, before we talk about cleaning up our rivers, it's not a coincidence that there's a lot of black and brown people across London who can't swim.

Particularly those from more deprived communities. It's an issue of racial justice. Partly it's because of a lack of access to affordable swim spaces or, or actually like places to go to swim. And so that was kind of one of the driving factors of us wanting to clean London's rivers. Um, there's 41 rivers in London.

41. 41. Every single one of our 40 rivers are badly polluted. Mm. Not even one of our rivers have a good ecological status. Which is an absolute scandal, and it's a scandal that we've just [00:12:00] kept kicking the can, uh, down the road on it.

Siddo: Why do you, why do you think that is? Why has there not been the, the, the will there?

Mind? Mind you, I have to say, it wasn't where I thought the conversation would go, but it's quite intriguing now that you've opened. They start. I certainly agree with you that there are lack of opportunities and I joke about UF Field's membership giving you that opportunity, but that's something that I've been considering to refresh my skills.

Yeah. And the cost of it, even as an adult is profound. It's like in some places it's 350 pounds for practical sessions of 10. How is the mayor's office or, or what's your long-term ambition for cleanup our rivers and how do you think that that can help? Um, young people's health and, and other opportunities.

Life opportunities.

Mete: Yeah. Look, I mean, partly the reason why I think people have, it's been difficult to, to get any movement on this is because the responsibility to clean our rivers. It's very complex. Yeah. 'cause you've got the role of the land authorities, which in many cases the local authorities are sort of private [00:13:00] owners.

Then you've got the, you know, the agencies like the Environment Agency and others. The mayor of London doesn't really have a statue of power when it comes to it. There's issues around funding. Then there's the failings of Thas water who've been illegally polluting our rivers for decades and been getting away with it and charging Londoners for their failings of not maintaining.

Exactly. Um, and so it's a very complex issue to solve, but you know, as we've shown with air quality mm-hmm. You know, the mayor's very ambitious about taking on some of the big issues we have. And he wants to clean, uh, our water quality, uh, in this time. And obviously government's working very hard on it as well.

Um, so there's a number of things that we've got planned. So we announced, basically, uh, that we will create a plan to clean our rivers in the next 10 years, but it's not just gonna be a plan that is just on the shelf in this mayoral term. There's a number of things that we're gonna be working on. So. One of it is around identifying sites that we're gonna be targeting to clean our rivers.

Mm. Um, so we're gonna be identifying after 10 sites, uh, by the end of this year. Um, the other thing that we're [00:14:00] gonna be doing is looking at, for example, the interlink between the green and blue spaces. I think after the pandemic, people really grew to appreciate like the outdoor spaces. Oh, absolutely.

Right. And it's good, important for people's mental health. You know, I know from growing up on an estate on an overcrowded flat, for example. Where we don't have access to a garden, having access to a garden is a luxury for Londoners. And you know, the ability for families to go out and unwin for people to, for their own mental wellbeing.

So we wanna create nice footpaths alongside our waterways. And actually you got a really good one in Enfield and they're capable manner that's just recently opened, which is incredible. So we wanna do more work, uh, like that. We wanna look at nature based solutions. So we brought back Beavers to London after 400 years.

Again, you've got it in Enfield. We've got it in ING two for,

Siddo: for those who don't know, Enfield as one of the greenest boroughs in the capitals. Yeah. Fifth largest of, of all the boroughs. And we are, well, not only does the leader Ervo, who's her on this, in this seat, called it the Green Lungs of Enfield, we are.

We've got the Lee Valley corridor as well, which is, we do, yeah. Quite a great, um, [00:15:00] walkway and, and there's a river there that may not look as polluted as others, but I'm sure it's probably gonna be part of the list to try and clean up. You're

Mete: doing loads of good stuff on green skills as well. Um, I went to visit, uh, one of your colleges, um, and they're doing lots of work with young people, particularly around getting the new generation trained up.

So, yeah, no, Enfield is one of the exemplar boroughs when it comes to, um, climate action. Thank qfi. Um, and you didn't pay me to say that. No, not at all.

Siddo: Well, we are, we are both from North London, so there's course that, uh, uh, that relationship there, but just, um. Those plans sound incredible. And, and, and, and, and also really ambitious, I think for us, the better places, but also Concilio, we're always trying to find different ways to marry both the private sector and public bodies together.

What do you think is key to bringing in so many of those different authorities? Uh, whether it's the, uh, any of the different, different trusts or those who own police pots of land and local authorities to try and find someone who's willing to back it [00:16:00] financially. One, yeah. Um, but also to, um. Be that driving force to, to clean up some of our,

Mete: so we've been very successful.

So, so far, um, what we've done is, just to give you a bit and your listeners an update as well, is we, we, me and the mayor held a round table in March this year, uh, where we had essentially all of the key different partners, uh, that we needed around the table. So that included, um, London Councils, uh, it included, um, the environment agency.

Mm-hmm. Uh, terms 21. The work, the work that they do particularly, um, you know, tha Water, so many different, uh, organizations, you know, the Black Swimmers Association, so many important community organizations, uh, too, um, and we were able to raise 1.8 billion, uh, behind on the back of that round table. Oh, goodness.

Um, and part of that is also getting, uh, organizations like TFL for example, to think about, you know, every time TFL. Is engaged in a scheme. [00:17:00] Um, whether it's a region scheme with a local authority or whatever it may be, there's an opportunity for us to think about the rollout of suds. Now, the suds are important for flood resilience, but it's also fundamentally very important to the work we're doing around the clean cleaning our rivers.

Because if you take Paris, for example, right? Paris cleaned the river cent, which is obviously incredible work. But when you have rain mm-hmm. The roads run off and the pollution off the road Mm, goes straight back into, uh, the rivers and the water streams and it pollutes the rivers, especially if the infrastructure is not there.

And so that's why the suds are really important to what we're doing. So we're trying to utilize TFL, for example, as a way. So whenever they do a scheme, we're looking at being able to maximize, um, the outcome of the work they're doing. So if they're doing road works, can we put some uds there? Whilst they're doing the road work, so we're not having to, for example, like put up another cost, uh, behind that.

So it's about working smarter. Um, Thames Water's putting, uh, quite a lot of money into it, and rightly they should, because, you know, they're a big part of [00:18:00] the reason why we're here in the first place. Um, and we've got others, uh, who are also contributing, including we are putting 7 million behind, um, from City Hall too for the work we're gonna do.

So I think we're, you know, we're now getting to a point where hopefully by the end of the year. We'll have a plan, uh, that's ready to be presented to the public. Um, and we'll have those sites where we can look at those tangible solutions. The key thing that I want is though, is, is that it can't just be like, as I say, like a, a theoretical document.

It needs to be tangible, and I think that's the. The thing with the green transition is that what I'm trying to do as deputy Mayor is really trying to make sure that the, the benefits of the green transition are tangible to lenders. People see how it's actually making a difference for their day-to-day lives.

What it looks like for their city. And so for me, I'm very clear with the Clean Rivers work is it's got to be action. And that's what London is gonna expect to see.

Siddo: No, that's incredible work. And that perspective of delivery that you put together there, um, I can't wait to see the kind of fruits of [00:19:00] its, uh, you know, we're gonna go for a swim.

Well, indeed. No, no. I'm, I'm up for it, bro. I'm up for

Mete: it. Uh. Just to say though, not all, every river will be a symbol. Um, we wanna make some of our, we've got eight symbol sites at the moment in London, and when we launched this pledge, we launched a map because at the moment didn't have a map to tell hold London as what rivers or reservoirs, uh, you can go to.

Um, so we've got the West Reserv, for example, in Woodbury down, uh, which is incredible. Um, and some other sites, uh, too. We want to look at some other sites where we can have like room, some Sunwall rivers. But of course, like the, you know, river Thames will never be sunwall because it's very tidal, so we'll never encourage people to, to take up swimming there, for example.

Yeah, it's

Siddo: quite rough. Uh, the Thames, um. Two questions off the back of that, which are all incredible work, but more around, um, people and places and, and not just, uh, emissions. Um, how do you see your role feeding [00:20:00] into the places that we live in and what they look like and how they're shaped and how that can be, um, how that can encourage,

Mete: uh, the green transition.

As I say, I think the green transition is one of the biggest economic opportunities of the 21st century. I think it's a huge opportunity for us to think about how do we redistribute wealth, and what I mean, not just financially, but also how do we make sure that for a lot of Londoners who didn't cause the climate crisis in the first place mm-hmm.

They don't have the, you know, the luxury to say, Hey, I don't like where I live because it's badly polluted, or it's got a lack of access to green space, therefore I'm gonna go off and rent somewhere else or buy it elsewhere. Yeah, people don't have that sort of money. And so for us, this is about social justice and it's about delivering for London as particularly some of our most vulnerable residents.

So for me, it's all about placemaking. It's all about how do we create a sense of co ownership over our mission to tackle the climate crisis and to deliver further green in London. And that includes basically, you know, creating more access to green space. But actually it's about equity [00:21:00] because London is a very green city.

Right. 51% off London spatially is green and blue spaces. It's a very green city. When you compare it to other cities, comparable if it's sites like for example, like in New York or, or like in LA or whatever it may be, but um, the question is for who, right? Oh yeah. Question is for who is that? It's a tale of two cities.

For a lot of people it's, the question is about how do we make sure like that London actually. Is we're getting equity in the place that we need to. So if you're thinking about some very densely populated areas, you know, creating more pocket parks, um, more street trees, um, you know, to create that resilience and obviously around heat and flooding, um, people where people can actually just enjoy the neighborhoods.

We wanna essentially, like, we want to do that. And so for me, you know, one of the key things that we've done actually, um, is about how do we work with Londoners because we need to work with them. To really realize their ambition. So we had a youth summit, for example, which was looking [00:22:00] at nature and it was incredible.

'cause you know, I had hundreds of young people essentially in a room who were just, you know, coming up with loads of ideas, create that space for them, how do we make sure we create more livable uh, neighborhoods. But I think what's really important, and I think this is where my background of being a counselor is very helpful is.

We can only do this by working with boroughs. Mm. It's got to be in partnership with boroughs. 'cause boroughs are doing some incredible work. I mean, you know, take Lambeth, the work they're doing are on the curbside strategy. Just

Siddo: about to mention Lambeth and curbside strategy. The the new Parklets and, and the, exactly.

And they repurposing, what is it, 25% of the curbside parking.

Mete: Yeah, exactly. Um, and they're doing some incredible work. And so what we need to do is actually, and also like. To be quite frank, you know, they are closer to their communities than we are. Mm-hmm. Um, and so we need to work in partnership, uh, with them to make sure that we're actually complementing what they're doing.

A good example is we've done some work with Q Gardens, um, and Q Gardens, um, has done a lot of, uh, research around. [00:23:00] The types of species of trees that we need to implement around adaptation of like heat. Um, so if you just plant any tree, it could be that actually those trees could get damaged. Mm. Um, and actually, you know, like it's damaged rather than, uh, you know, serving its purpose because of the heat.

And so. What we're doing is because some of the councils may not have that co the capacity or the staff capacity, we're working with Q Gardens to get our research out to the councils. Mm-hmm. So they know how and what types of species they need to be planting. So it's giving them that additional capacity support into terms to what they need to be doing.

So it's things like that that we could be doing from City Hall that can help basically. Actually bolstered the efforts of councils that can ultimately deliver for loneliness.

Siddo: Yeah, that holistic approach, I think is all about the intention of CT Hall, which is, um, trying to do what you can to create more resilient, livable neighborhoods in a, in a more holistic way.

Um, you've touched on a couple things there not least around, um, trying to foster, [00:24:00] uh. Not just greener spaces, but more inclusive growth. I wonder, you touched on, um, green skills there, which I know Enfield's champion in, uh, Lambeth, uh, even has placed that sustainable ventures, which champion a lot of, uh, climate, uh, action and climate work.

But question's twofold. Um. Again, what, what, what work has been undertaken, um, with some of those new emerging green industries and clean technology to, um, uh, to foster inclusive growth, um, but also what. Work are you doing with the states and, and those corridors that are historically overlooked to make sure that they're coming along with you

Mete: on this

Siddo: journey?

Mete: Yeah, so I think, you know, we had London Climate Action Week this year. It was the biggest ever. London Climate Action Week, over 700 events, 45,000 people across our city. And a big part of the theme around that was how do we actually one, accelerate our green economy? Um, we know we need 75 billion pounds of investment in our green economy [00:25:00] by 2030 to reach, uh, net zero.

Um, but actually more crucially was about those emerging sectors and how do we help support them in that transition, uh, and what we can do from a city hall perspective. The London Growth Plan, obviously is a very important component of how we do that, because within it, it's got, you know, net zero is a key component, part of it.

And actually, I don't think it's growth free green, actually. You can get growth through green. And so what we're trying to do is actually help make sure that London is prepared for those investments that we're gonna have across our city. And actually, I think, you know, how we win people's hearts and minds is by making sure, I remember when I was growing up in Manhattan and the tech and creative industry started to come to shortage before that shortage wasn't what Shortage is now.

Mm-hmm. Um, and it's really weird because like I remember when I was growing up like. There was this excitement that we had on my estate, but no one knew what it meant. But we [00:26:00] just sort of felt like there was gonna be loads of new jobs created in Hackney. And people were really excited about the sort of the, almost like welcoming the tech and creative industries into London to Hackney, to our borough.

Um, and I think we need to do the same thing with the, the green transition. Mm-hmm. Which is how do we actually make sure that the opportunities that are being created for people in our city is actually going to those. Who need it, or those who've done the lease or who've benefited lease, uh, from the previous, uh, system that we lived in.

Otherwise, all that happens is, is almost like the commodities change, but it's the same. People benefit from the same system, and I think that's where people lose trust and faith in politics. And so for me it's about making sure that actually the, and that's why the work we're doing on retrofit is so important.

Because retrofit is, you're delivering lower energy bills for our residents, particularly at a time where, you know, we know, for example, people need every pound they can get when it comes to sort of, um, the impact of, uh, our economy, [00:27:00] um, and the support they need. But actually, if you think about the skills and the jobs that are gonna come for that, particularly for, for people in those communities is huge.

And then one final example I give you is we delivered recently, um, the Atlanta Stadium. We funded for the Green Finance Fund, the 3,350 solar membranes that went on on the roof of stadium. I never seen though that was so, it's quite a feat, first stadium to have it. Um, and typically it's difficult to put solar panels on roof of stadiums 'cause of the weight restriction.

But we use these like membranes, they're like yoga mats, um, and solar panels and. I was talking to Esco, who was dealing actually installing the, mm-hmm. They won the contract from London Stanley to deal with it. And I asked them this question, which is basically how many of the, the jobs went to local people or people like in that vicinity.

So it could be like Al Hamlets new Hackney or um, wolf forests, which is the Olympic boroughs. And they were like very little, they [00:28:00] were honest about it, and I asked them what was the reason, like, what was the main barriers for it. And they were just like, the skills just don't exist. Mm. Not just in that vicinity, but actually for the whole London.

Um, and it just made me think in some ways. And it's not ESCO's fault, by the way, because we need to do more to make sure that people are upskilled so that we create that market. We need a coalition of the willing to do that. Yeah. I mean

Siddo: it, it is right that you are posing that challenge. I guess it's the responsibility of not just public bodies like the GLA, local authorities and government, also the private partners to find out how do you upskill those people on the ground.

Exactly. And how can they. Also benefit from the jobs that are being created and have the skills

Mete: to, and we, and we basically, in London Climate Action Week, we set up a London climate, um, task force, uh, finance task force, which is basically thinking about how do we accelerate the investment around our green economy.

But also if you think about the London growth plan and the talent strategy that we're gonna have, that's gonna be complimenting that. [00:29:00] It's essentially your point. 'cause I think where public bodies could be helpful is setting the policy framework. To almost like set the direction for the private sector in terms of knowing, because you know, for example, if we go out with saying 22,000 homes are gonna be improving energy efficiency, then almost like everything shifts around it because people know, okay, we're gonna need jobs, so therefore they will invest more into training.

And so I think our responsibility as those in power is, is being able to. Have the right policy framework so that actually we can work together with the private sector and our education skills providers to make sure that we're getting the skills that we need. Otherwise, you know, we risk a real, um, I guess like challenge of getting people trained up.

Siddo: And I think out of the, uh, on climate, we can, the action of came out of it, but what, what was the main learning, do you think, and actually, uh, for us to close, what was your message? [00:30:00] To, uh, London Climate Week. And what would your message be to those listening who want to be part of the action that sea hall's taking?

That you are taking?

Mete: Yeah. Well this, this London Climate Action Week was special because it was the biggest, uh, in Europe. It was literally the Glastonbury of Climate Weeks. Um, but I think which you, you were at wireless the other day too. I was at wireless, yeah.

Siddo: Honestly, can I join your team? It's like a good, uh,

Mete: I mean, not least 'cause of the work that you are doing, but.

But you are reaching people where they are. Exactly. That's what I was gonna say to you. So like what, what I'm trying to do in my role, and this comes from a bit my background of like, again, not being involved in this world before. Trying to go where people go to in their day-to-day social, digital lives and think about how we connect them in their space.

So whether that's at like festivals, uh, whether it's like, you know, speaking through podcasts, uh, like yourself, um, lots of different ways which people engage with London is, but the key thing that came out of, uh, London Climate Action, we can, I think this is where London could really show global leadership.

At a time where we've got a climate denial in charge of the most powerful country in the world, [00:31:00] is that actually cities are gonna be at the frontline when it comes to dealing with the impacts of climate change. Are, are the ones who are leading this, the innovation and the solutions when it comes to climate action.

And cities need to have a, a seat at the table when it comes to cop. And that's what it does. One of the biggest arguments that we made at London Climate Action Week, which is actually speaking to the Brazilian presidency to say, please give cities a role at cop. And you know, we're very pleased that at London Climate Action Week, um, this year, they're committed to making sure that, you know, C 40 cities and other sort of cities have a big role when it comes to COP this year, which is gonna be for the first time.

And it's really exciting.

Siddo: Well indeed. And we were at, uh, cop back in 2021, if you remember. Yeah, that was a, um, it was a real eye opener for me 'cause I think you described yourself as not a, a natural environmentalist and I probably would would agree with you on that one. Uh, but the work that you are doing and so many other partners across, uh, not just London but across the world, is, uh, it's

Mete: incredible work and [00:32:00] Yeah, and we learned commending for it.

We learned so much. You know, we learned so much from other cities. Like it's not London knows it all best, you know, like. There's so much amazing innovation happening, like Bogota, the work they're doing in Columbia around zero emission buses. I mean, we got the highest number of zero emission buses for any city in, in the Western world, over 2000 or five buses or zero emission, with a plan to get a hundred percent by 2030.

But we're learning so much from other cities around what they're doing around heat Copenhagen, around cleaning the rivers. But equally, they learn from us as well. And I think that's the power of, you know, having this network, which is that actually, you know. Climate change doesn't own no borders. Mm-hmm.

Right. Even like when we're thinking about flooding in London, partly what we're trying to do is get in the boroughs working together. 'cause water doesn't go from. Suffolk to Lambeth and say, Hey, I'm stopping here. 'cause there's a, there's a borough line here. We need to actually work across boroughs. We need to work with other cities because ultimately climate change affects the whole world and we're only gonna be able to solve it.

Yeah. Through that partnership.

Siddo: And London's a great leader in that, although we haven't touched so much from [00:33:00] government. I wonder, um, it must be so refreshing for you going from working, uh, in, in Hackney and being at the front line of the defense for, for your residents, but now having a, a government, um, that you can.

Well, the mayor's office can work more constructively with, I wonder, what is that relationship like? And um, what steps have you seen from national government that you are quite looking

Mete: forward to, um, implementing? I mean, look, there's been a huge step change since we've had a new government. Um, you know, you take for example the investment in Transport for London and the certainty that gives to our transport network and also the environmental measures that we were able to bring in place.

Um, if you think about, you know, I spoke about Retrofit and Walmart Homes, London. What we'd done in London. So just to give again a bit of background to this, but what used to happen in London before was really bizarre, which is you had this system where every council had to apply for money for retrofit from government.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. The problem with that is twofold. One is, is is that, um. It's a competition war between [00:34:00] literal Yeah. Like a bidding war. Exactly. Yeah. The second thing is, is most councils, for everyone who's listening will know the last 14 years have been, their back offices have been completely stripped out.

A lot of them are dealing with sort of the, you know, the repairs don't have the capacity to even think about retrofit. So there are some councils that don't even apply for the funding. So what we done is we set up Wilmore Homes, London, working with government. To basically lead a consortium bid, um, and actually government's investment in London, 232 million pound, 22,000 homes, that would be, uh, improving their energy efficiency.

That's a step change. Mm. Because of the, you know, government that we have who's put this focus on retrofit. Um, you know, long time we wanna work around the integrated settlement around retrofit, but the work we're doing around rivers, I mean, you see, you know, Steve Reed's leadership when it comes to, for example, holding water companies, uh, to account.

Particularly with the announcement around, you know, the regulator as well. And so there is a massive step change, uh, in terms of like, you know, alignment on policy. You know, for the first time we've got a [00:35:00] government who is serious about taking climate action and Mayor of London has obviously put this at the heart of his mayoral t and also formidable councils I think cross through different layers of government, we can have a huge impact over the next three years.

Siddo: Absolutely. And if it all goes well, um, I'd be interested to know, especially from you thinking about your legacy and my just a year in, but, um, I, I wish you all the best, uh, uh, as you continue on in your role. What does a better London look like in 2030? And can you picture as we close, uh, today's interview, um, what would it look like for someone stepping outta their front door into London that, that you and the mayor are looking to

Mete: create?

So, firstly, I think better air quality. You wouldn't drink dirty water. So how we have ever normalized dirty air is beyond me. So having much more, better air quality for the sake of our children. More access to green space, particularly for Londoners who don't have, uh, access to a garden and better public spaces as well in green spaces.

You know, [00:36:00] more public spaces where Londoners can actually spend, uh, their time, uh, making sure that we're more resilient to the impacts of climate change through, you know, the suds through. Um, more street trees, um, making sure that, for example, our buildings are much more energy efficient and actually being more innovative around how we install solar panels, how we support our schools, how do we support cultural centers, our icon, iconic venues.

So for me, there's so much work to do. And actually as I'm talking about it, I'm thinking of so many things to say because it's like, you know, there's so much we need to be doing. And that's what that, when you talk about a decade of delivery, that's what it's about. It's about actually getting on with the job.

There's, we know the solutions to this, we just gotta crack on and deliver it.

Siddo: And indeed. And on that note, uh, mete, thank you so much for your time. Uh, and thanks a lot to all our listeners, um, for taking the time to listen to this episode of Better Places Podcast. Um, if you've enjoyed this conversation, make sure that you subscribe, uh, share it with anyone who's listening, uh, who's interested even, um, in how [00:37:00] we shape the cities that work for people and the planet.

And you can find out more about Medicaid's work, uh, either online or@london.gov. Uh. UK and you can follow the podcast for more stories, um, from the people who are helping to build a fairer, uh, greener London, uh, and better places, uh, for us all. So until next time, thank you so

much. Thank you.