Tottenham celebrate green goal with homes for bats and bugs

LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur already have a players hotel on their training ground but are now installing bat houses and bug hotels at their state-of-the-art complex north of London as part of a commitment to the UN-backed Sports for Nature Framework.

The club is the first in the Premier League to join the scheme which promotes protecting and regenerating nature.

Hundreds of new and semi-mature trees have already been planted at the training complex and wildflower meadows and ponds have been installed. As well, more than 500 bat houses, 25 bug hotels have also been placed around the grounds.

Organic fruit and vegetables, grown at the training ground near Enfield, already end up in the staff canteen.

Last year, Spurs earned the Biodiversity Project of the Year award at the BASIS Sustainable Sport Awards for a Biodiversity Monitoring system -- a first in sport -- which records pollination and bird activity.

We have long been recognised as the Premier Leagues greenest club for the work we have done to minimise carbon emissions across our operations - it is now time for us to make a firm commitment to nature and protecting the ecosystems we cannot live without, Donna-Maria Cullen, Tottenhams Executive Director, said in a statement.

Becoming the first signatory in the Premier League of the Sports for Nature Framework means we can now demonstrate clear action across all three pillars of the UNs definition of sustainability set out at COP29 -- People, Climate and Nature. REUTERS

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