Alan Jones might not have been present on Monday’s edition of Q&A, but the radio host continued to create controversies as a panel of science experts slammed his downplaying of human contribution on climate change.

A questioner asked the panel about Jones’s claim that humans only contribute three per cent to greenhouse gas emissions from his appearance on the ABC show last month.

“I saw the radio commentator Alan Jones on TV recently, and he said that 0.04 per cent of the world’s atmosphere is CO2,” the questioner said. 

“‘Three per cent of that human beings create around the world, and of that, 1.3 per cent is created by Australians’. Is that correct, and if so, is human activity really making a difference?”

CSIRO atmospheric scientist Professor David Karoly responded that while Jones is correct that 0.04 per cent of the world’s atmosphere is CO2, his comment on human-induced climate change is not “factually accurate”.

“I am a climate scientist, and Alan Jones is wrong,” said Karoly. “The reason he’s wrong is because we know that yes, the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere is 400 parts per million … and that corresponds to about 0.04 per cent.

“All his other numbers were wrong. We know that carbon dioxide concentration 100 years ago was about 280 parts per million, or 0.028 per cent, but it’s grown 120 parts per million — or about 40 per cent — and that 40 per cent increase is due to human activity. We know that for absolute certain.”

Emma Johnston, president at Science & Technology Australia made an analogy to emphasise Australia’s responsibility to act on global warming. “Your Honour, I stabbed him to death but it was a clean knife and if I hadn’t stabbed him to death the other fellow would have with a rusty knife.” The stabbing victim stands for the Earth, while the criminal is Australia.

Astrobiologist and geologist Martin van Kranendonk also questioned Jones’s credentials to comment on the matter. 

“If your car wasn’t doing well, would you take it to a butcher? No, you’d take it to a mechanic. For the source of data on scientific matters I personally wouldn’t go to Alan Jones. I’d look for the best-known sources for that material, and people I trust.”

He added, “There’s this perception that scientists are out there doing nefarious little tricks in a dark alley and concocting these models for fame and fortune and glory and money, and that’s not at all how science works. All the people I know in science are passionate about understanding the natural world.”