New research has found that natural variations in the Arctic climate may be responsible for about 30–50% of the overall decline in September sea ice since 1979, the start of the satellite era. The study has been welcomed by some scientists as a useful separation of human-caused climate change and natural influences on Arctic atmospheric circulation, originating as far away as in the tropical Pacific. While natural fluctuations can amplify or dampen the signal for a while, the downward trend caused by the build up of greenhouse gases is the overwhelming factor in the long term, say the authors. The Daily Mail says the study shows “the Arctic icecap is shrinking – but it’s not all our fault”, despite the fact that the paper still attributes up to two thirds of the disappearing ice to human activity. The Independent quotes one of the researchers as saying, “It would be unfortunate if this gets spun into a way that really sort of downplays the importance of anthropogenic forcing in this sea ice decline…there’s nothing that really discounts the science behind the anthropogenic sea ice decline.” The Mirror also covers the new paper. Carbon Brief has a collection of comments from scientists about the significance, or otherwise, of the study.

The new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, used an “alias email account” to discuss climate change issues while CEO at Exxon, the New York attorney general’s office alleged on Monday. An investigation into the company’s knowledge of climate change found Tillerson used an email account under the name “Wayne Tracker” for at least seven years, between 2008 and 2015. The claims come in a letter by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to a state judge on Monday, accusing Exxon of failing to turn over all relevant documents required by a court order. Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers defended the separate email account, saying Tillerson used the account for “secure and expedited communications” after his primary account began receiving too many messages, reports Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Reuters has more on the story.

Energy giant SSE is set to raise electricity tariffs by 14.9%, adding £73 to the average annual bills of 2.8 million households. The company is the last of the “Big Six” energy firms to raise consumer prices – a move that is likely to increase pressure on the government to act on energy prices, says The Times. While the company has blamed the hike on renewable energy subsidies and the costs of installing smart meters, official figures from the industry watchdog, Ofgem, show these levies equate to a much smaller 2.5% rise in costs, notes the Daily Mail. The price rise, which doesn’t affect gas tariffs, will come into effect from 28th April, reports Energy Live News.

The American Meteorological Society has written a letter to the new chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, refuting his comments in a recent CNBC interview that human-caused CO2 is not a primary contributor to climate change. The letter says that while discussing options for how best to tackle rising emissions was prudent, “mischaracterising the science is not the best starting point for a constructive dialogue.” Adding that the The American Meteorological Society has been working on all aspects of climate science “going back a century”, the group urges Pruitt to “reconsider your stance on the science.” A group of 30 US scientists who share an expertise in climate change also wrote to Pruitt with a similar message, reports The Washington Post. As they put it, “Just as there is no escaping gravity when one steps off a cliff, there is no escaping the warming that follows when we add extra carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.” Vox looks at what Pruitt can and can’t do to put his “stunning” views into practice as head of the body tasked with tackling climate change.

Moves to slash climate-related funding in the US could be disastrous for work in the UK, leading British scientists have warned. Trump’s travel ban is already harming collaborations with scientists in America, they say, with examples of researchers pulling out of commitments in the UK because of fears they may not make it back through US immigration. Prof Piers Forster, director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at Leeds University, told The Guardian: “If organisations like Nasa and the NOAA are prohibited from putting up new satellites, that could be really detrimental for the entire international science community. We urgently need these data sets to be able to monitor and understand climate change.” Small consolation may come in universities being able to woo some big-name climate scientists from across the Atlantic, say some scientists. Others say that with Brexit looming, Britain is unlikely to appeal to scientists fleeing an uncertain future in the US.

The New York Times takes a close look at a virtual trading platform in Brooklyn that allows solar-energy producers to sell excess-electricity credits to buyers in the neighbourhood. Known as the Brooklyn Microgrid, the scheme has just 50 participants so far – but its implications could be far reaching, the piece says: “The ability to complete secure transactions and create a business based on energy sharing would allow participants to bypass the electric company energy supply and ultimately build a microgrid with energy generation and storage components that could function on their own, even during broad power failures.” The article looks at similar residential energy trading markets in Australia, Germany and Bangladesh.

With news that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is facing cuts of more than a quarter of its budget, a chill wind of change is blowing through climate research, says a New Scientist editorial today. It says: “Some in the Trump camp claim they are not opposed to climate science, just to the “politicised” version of it now practised by NOAA and other agencies. This is nonsense. Climate science has been politicised only by those who deny its findings in the service of an antiquated model of US enterprise – one in which success depends on corporate freedom to trash the commons.” Elsewhere, the Washington Post reports that scientists are “conspicuously missing” from the new administration, with President Trump so far filling just one of 46 key science and technology positions. With US leadership of the international Arctic Council proceeding, at least climate change policy in the Arctic remains unchanged – for now, says Inside Climate News.

Extreme sea levels along European coasts could increase by as much as 81cm by 2100, a new study says. The combination of rising sea levels and more intense storm surges will make the average 100-year extreme sea level event more frequent. For the five million Europeans currently under threat of a 100-year coastal flood event, they could be at risk from flooding every year by the end of the century, the researchers say.

Rain will become the dominant form of precipitation in the Arctic region by the end of this century, a new study suggests. Using 37 climate models, the researchers show a decrease in average annual Arctic snowfall, despite a large overall increase in precipitation. Rising temperatures cause a greater fraction of snowfall to melt before it reaches the surface, the paper explains. The snowfall reduction is likely to be most pronounced during summer and autumn, the study says, while winter rainfall is also found to intensify considerably.

While global atmospheric CO2 concentration has fluctuated during the glacial cycles of the past 800,000 years, it has rarely dropped below 190 parts per million. A new study says it may have identified the reason why. As CO2 levels fall during a glacial period, plants and plankton struggle to photosynthesise and grow. This decreases the amount of carbon taken from the atmosphere into soils and the deep ocean, the researchers say, which prevents CO2 levels from falling further, thus preventing extreme cooling.