Most Polluting Power Plants in California

Power plants in California emit a combined 42.0M metric tons of CO₂ per year. The table below ranks the top emitters — predominantly coal and natural gas plants. Emission rates vary widely even within the same fuel type: efficient combined-cycle gas plants produce roughly 900 lb CO₂/MWh, while older coal plants can exceed 2,200 lb/MWh.

Emissions data comes from the EPA eGRID program. Zero-emission sources (nuclear, solar, wind, hydro) are excluded from this ranking. For methodology details, see the methodology page.