Hurricane Harvey’s torrential rainfall, which caused serious flooding in Houston this summer, was made around three times more likely by climate change, new research finds. Global warming also made the downpour around 15% more intense. The research was conducted by the the World Weather Attribution (WWA) initiative, who assess the role of climate change in extreme events. A second study conducted by scientists from The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California had similar findings, the New York Times reports. This study found climate change had made Hurricane Harvey’s downpour 3.5 times more likely and up to 38% more intense. “The amount of precipitation increase is worse than I expected,” Michael J. Wehner, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told the New York Times. The Washington Post, Associated Press and Carbon Brief also cover the new studies. Meanwhile, BBC News reports that scientists have calculated that Harvey’s rainfall weighed 127bn tonnes.

The UK will receive its first direct supplies of gas from Russia this month as a result of a drop in domestic output caused by the temporary closure of a key North Sea pipeline. The shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a new plant at Yamal, in the Russian Arctic, is scheduled to arrive at the Isle of Grain terminal in Kent on December 28. The gas could be heating UK homes by the new year. The government is not believed to have had any involvement in the deal, but a spokesman said: “We can only benefit from having a diverse range of supplies.” Financial Times also has the story. Elsewhere in the Times, it was reported that chemicals company Ineos has started fixing the crack in the North Sea pipeline, but repairs could take up to a month. Tom Crotty, a director at Ineos, told The Times that the damage to the pipe was highly unusual because it occurred along the longitudinal seam rather than between two sections of pipe. “We haven’t seen any evidence of this happening before,” he added.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has just returned from a four-day trip in Morocco, which he spent promoting US natural gas, the Washington Post reports. The EPA disclosed the trip, where Pruitt talked with officials about their interest in importing natural gas as well as other areas of “continued cooperation” between the two countries, on Tuesday. “We are committed to working closely with countries like Morocco to enhance environmental stewardship around the world,” Pruitt said in a media release. The purpose of the trip sparked questions from environmental groups and industry experts, who noted that EPA plays no formal role in overseeing natural gas exports. Such activities are overseen primarily by the Energy Department and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

National Australia Bank says it will halt all lending for new thermal coal mining projects, becoming the first major Australian bank to phase out support for coal. In a statement, NAB said an orderly transition to a low-carbon Australia was critical for the economy and for continued access to secure and affordable energy. “While we will continue to support our existing customers across the mining and energy sectors, including those with existing coal assets, NAB will no longer finance new thermal coal mining projects,” the bank said. The news comes after the World Bank has also announced it will “no longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019” in an effort to be consistent with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to between 1.5 and 2C.

Heathrow Airport has announced it will hold a public consultation on the environmental impacts of building a third runway. The airport said it intended to mitigate the environmental impact of its proposed expansion. “Over the past year, we’ve been working hard to evolve our expansion plans and have come up with several new options to deliver it more responsibly and affordably,” said the airport’s Executive Director for expansion Emma Gilthorpe. The latest consultation will launch on Jan. 17 and run for 10 weeks. City AM and The Telegraph also have the story.

“In less than a decade Britain has lost its lead in the global gas market and now risks plunging into a gas cost crisis,” writes energy editor Jillian Ambrose in the Telegraph. In a feature, Ambrose explores how the UK’s increasing reliance on gas imports could leave it vulnerable to “price shocks”. “The UK’s winter gas may be accessible but it will come at a cost whether Government uses the word ‘crisis’ or not,” Ambrose writes.

“When you turn on your gas cooker or switch on the kettle, there is a very good chance that you are using energy brought to you via a network owned by Hong Kong’s richest man,” writes deputy business editor Robin Pagnamenta in the Times. In a comment piece, Pagnamenta writes how a small number of super-rich network companies, including Northern Gas Networks and Wales & West Utilities which are owned by Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing, are earning large returns on supplying power to homes in the UK. “The charges levied by these network companies amount to about a quarter of your total annual energy bill,” writes Pagnamenta.

Coverage of climate change and policy in the media in Poland – the largest hard coal producer in the European Union – “remains very low”, a new study finds. Researchers assessed print and television coverage of the fifth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The results show that the volume of coverage in Poland was much lower than in other European countries. The article explores possible reasons for the “exceptionalism” found in the Polish media.

A new study investigates the impact on sea level projections of including mechanisms such as ice-shelf hydrofracturing and ice-cliff collapse that may increase ice loss from marine-based ice sheets. Under high greenhouse gas emissions (scenario RCP8.5), the central estimate for 21st century global sea level rise increases from 79 to 146cm. Without adaptation, these revised projections would, by 2100, see land submerged that is currently home to 153 million people, the researchers say – an increase of 44 million.

Holding global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial rather than 2C could mean 17cm less of sea level rise by 2150, a new study says. Using a semi-empirical model, the researchers project global sea levels between now and 2150 under the Paris Agreement temperature targets. Limiting warming to 1.5C reduces peak rates of sea level rise by 1.9mm per year, compared to 2C, the study finds. Delaying the year of peak temperature has little long-term influence on sea levels, the researchers say, but does help reduce the maximum rate of rise.