
London’s Deputy Mayor meets WCID’s climate innovators
The Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy Mete Coban MBE visited the White City Deep Tech Campus in White City Innovation District last week.
The Deputy Mayor learned about Imperial College London’s role in supporting climate innovation, green entrepreneurship and air quality research as part of the Imperial WestTech Corridor – helping to tackling climate change and improving the environment across London and beyond.
The Deputy Mayor was also joined by local politicians including Councillor Stephen Cowan Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council, James Small-Edwards, Member of The London Assembly for West Central, and Councillor Wesley Harcourt, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Ecology at London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

Pictured: London Environment Deputy Mayor Mete Coban MBE visits the White City Deep Tech Campus with local politicians and CleanTech start-ups and facilitators
Mete was able to explore first-hand how the White City Deep Tech Campus and White City Innovation District are creating the conditions for innovative climate start-ups and scale-ups – such as Puraffinity and Cyanoskin – to flourish, with wide ranging access to cutting edge equipment, networking opportunities, facilities and expertise. Last September, Puraffinity successfully completed a £17 million Series A funding round, allowing the company to scale up manufacturing capabilities for its PFAS-capturing material targeted at market applications including the treatment of drinking water and environmental remediation.

Mete Coban MBE meeting Puraffinity’s Chief Product and Innovation Officer and Co-Founder Henrik Hagemann at the company’s state-of-the-art labs in Scale Space White City. During the visit, Mete learned how Puraffinity is developing ground-breaking solutions to remove harmful pollutants from water and wastewater.
Mete also toured the facilities of Imperial’s influential Environmental Research Group (ERG), led by Professor Frank Kelly CBE, Battcock Chair in Community Health and Policy, who was recently recognised in His Majesty The King’s New Year Honours 2025.
Professor Kelly presented an overview of the ERG’s research into indoor air pollution, including the landmark West London Healthy Home and Environment Study (WellHome). The WellHome study, which has been co-designed with the local White City community, is evaluating the air quality of over 100 homes of children with asthma. The study aims to identify air pollution exposure spanning both indoor and outdoor environments and recommend behavioural changes that can potentially reduce exposure levels and improve health outcomes.
Finally, Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Imperial’s climate innovation hub Undaunted, highlighted its range of programmes which make up a thriving innovation ecosystem supporting climate innovators at different stages of their entrepreneurship journey – spanning support for early-stage innovators through the Green Together programme, to support for scale-ups and SMEs through the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator programme.
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