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With nothing to pump from the local weir, Walgett, NSW is the latest town forced to go underground for water, a move that health experts say could have potentially serious health implications.

Christmas tree growers are busy getting their trees off to market; shellfish reefs return to Pt Phillip Bay; we make wooden spoons from timber off-cuts; and jump on board the 'Savannahlander'

Slow progress on 2015 Paris agreement comes as scientists warn of need to get on track

Negotiators at the climate conference in Poland have inched closer to an outcome, as the official deadline for finishing a deal ran out.

The conference was meant to approve a rulebook which would govern how nations put into action the goals set in the landmark Paris agreement of 2015, when the world resolved to hold global warming to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an aspiration to limit temperature rises to no more than 1.5C.

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At the COP24 conference, leaders lack the urgency felt by communities on the frontlines of a global threat

As wildfires burn, as temperatures rise, as the last remaining old-growth forests in Poland are logged, world leaders are in Katowice to negotiate the implementation of the Paris climate agreement. To outsiders, UN climate talks may seem like a positive step. Unfortunately, this is COP24.

For 24 years, world leaders have annually talked at each other instead of to one another in hopes of reaching an agreement on how to mitigate the climate crisis. In all that time, they have barely scratched the surface of an issue that the world’s top climate scientists say we now have 12 years to stop – and that is an optimistic estimate.

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European carbon prices extended this week’s rally on Friday, hitting a three-month high near €24 amid lighter volume and drying up supply.

Fiona Gomersall on ecological damage caused by Christmas trees, Rachel Kennerley on richer nations bearing the greatest burden, Sandy Irvine on population pressures and John Hobson on a carbon-added tax. Plus letters from Daniel Scharf, and Dr Stephen Brien of the Legatum Institute

Your article about which Christmas trees to buy (Fake or real: which ones look best – and won’t cost the Earth?, 8 December) failed to make some important points that need seriously considering if all environmental consequences are to be taken into account when making an informed decision about choice of tree.

In the uplands of south-west Shropshire, Christmas trees are grown on increasingly shrinking moorland habitat, home to threatened and severely declining species like curlew, snipe, kestrel and barn owl. Your photograph showed a Christmas tree plantation on heather moorland, which proves my point. Heathland, one of the UKs priority habitats and home to many iconic species, has declined by as much as 90% over the last 200 years.

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It took five weeks of round-the-clock treatment to keep Benedicte alive after her mother died.

People will have to separate their food waste to combat methane emissions

Bird battles, snoozing seals and mischievous macaques in this week’s gallery

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A new global carbon market mechanism under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 risks undermining the landmark climate treaty if negotiators fail to remove a ‘poison pill’ in the draft text thought to have been backed by Brazil, observers said Friday.

Stores selling stubby sprouts and curvy carrots in attempt to reduce festive food waste

Supermarkets have increased their efforts to reduce the national food waste mountain at Christmas by offering shoppers edible produce nearing the end of its shelf life, as well as “wonky” sprouts, carrots and parsnips.

The wonky or “ugly” lines were being offered at cheaper prices in an effort to stop the rejection or waste of fruit and veg that was misshapen, had growth cracks or was much smaller or larger than average.

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Coal, known as ‘black gold’ in Poland, has helped the country achieve energy independence. However, the high-polluting fuel has been linked to serious diseases and premature death. With COP24 climate talks under way in Katowice, pressure grows on Poland to reduce its reliance on the fossil fuel. But with 100,000 coal-dependent jobs in the country, switching to alternative sources of energy carries great economic risk. Here, Violeta Santos Moura explores the problem in her essay Dark Clouds

• Can Poland wean itself off coal?
  

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Climate experts say the renaissance can be stopped but change must happen now – and the main obstacle is at the top

• Poland’s deadly addiction to coal – in pictures
  

Displays of coal jewellery and coal soap, coal in a glass walkway beneath your feet, coal in the air that you breathe … the Polish hosts of this week’s UN climate talks have been anything but subtle in reminding delegates that we still live in a fossil-fuelled world despite the urgent necessity to move to a cleaner path.

The conference centre is near the mineshaft of the colliery museum in Katowice, the heartland of Silesia’s vast coal industry. The sponsors include JSW, the EU’s largest coking coal producer, and PGE, which runs the world’s second-largest fossil-fuel power plant.

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When the US space agency's next rover gets to Mars in 2021, it will seek evidence of ancient life.

Nascent industry aims to reduce environmental impact of beef production

The first steak grown from cells in the lab and not requiring the slaughter of a cow has been produced in Israel.

The meat is not the finished article: the prototype costs $50 for a small strip, and the taste needs perfecting, according to its makers. But it is the first meat grown outside an animal that has a muscle-like texture similar to conventional meat.

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Comments by science review board chairman add weight to fears that Trump administration is aiming to discredit research to justify scrapping regulations

A conservative science adviser to the Trump administration is casting doubt on longstanding research linking fossil fuel pollution to early deaths and health problems, worrying environmental experts.

At a meeting to review air pollution science compiled by staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency this week the advisory board chairman, Tony Cox – a consultant and statistician who has worked for the industry and criticized EPA standards – questioned whether soot from coal plants and cars can be directly blamed for asthma and cardiopulmonary problems.

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Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket ship has made a successful test flight, 82.7km above the Earth's surface.

'The Wrap' is RN Drive's summary of the biggest stories of the year, plus some you may have missed.

Australia’s Mary River turtle went viral after it was named on an endangered species list – and Cate Blanchett even voiced a puppet of it. But was that enough to save it?

It was “the punk turtle” – an eccentric and yet strangely human-looking reptile with a vivid green mohican, fleshy “fingers” under its chin and the ability to breathe through its genitals. The Mary River turtle went viral in April when pictures of the hitherto little-known creature were shared around the world after it was placed 30th on the Zoological Society of London’s Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered list for reptiles. The rating, which guides conservation prioritiesfor at-risk species, was compiled by Rikki Gumbs. He says that turtle fascination “went absolutely crazy” after its publication, as he fielded calls from journalists around the world. Reptiles are often overlooked but the connection many felt for the animal does not surprise Gumbs. “It’s the least these amazing reptiles deserve,” he says. “Once people can see how incredible and unique they are, it’s not surprising they are drawn to them.”

The turtle became endangered because it was widely collected for the pet trade in the 1960s and 70s. Such collecting is outlawed now but the turtle faces a new threat. It is only found on a relatively small part of the Mary River, in Queensland, Australia, and is imperilled by the loss and degradation of its habitat. Non-native plants prevent it laying eggs in sandy river banks; non-native foxes and dogs predate it.

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