Canada must charge firms a lot for emissions: panel

The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy said that in 2050 companies would have to pay up to C$270 ($250) for each ton of carbon dioxide to meet a goal of cutting greenhouse gases emissions by 65 percent of 2003 levels in 2050.

From Reuters

When I first saw Desmogblog publicize their cost figure of $10 per person, I thought they had made a mistake and posted to that effect. Then they repeated that figure three or four times and I realized they were just doing whatever it is P.R. people do.
Here's an example of someone who picked up on the meme:

"Kevin Grandia of the global warming denialist-busting website, DeSmogBlog, has done the calculations - it only takes $10 per person per year to save the planet.

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The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that it would cost .12% of the world's domestic product to substantially reduce our collective greenhouse gas emissions.

• GDP of the world economy: US$60 trillion
• .12% of $60 trillion: $70 billion
• Total population of the earth: 6.5 billion
• Cost per person to significantly reduce heat-trapping gas worldwide: $10 a year
• Cost of saving the planet from droughts, famine, mass flooding, species extinction and rising sea levels: priceless.

His maths: $60 trillion/.0012/6.5 billion = $10 (rounded figures)."

That's from a site called Clipmarks, now I grant you it's not the Wall Street Journal, Times of London, New York Times, LA Times or the Financial Times but the meme did get some traction.

Here's the post I put up in response: "The Innumerate Leading the Illiterate"