California has nation’s highest gas prices as Newsom attends UN summit

Governor of California Gavin Newsom He’s in the midst of touting his state’s leadership on energy policy while in Brazil for a UN climate conference, while Golden State residents pay the highest gas prices in the United States, largely due to state regulation.

“Even though climate change may not resonate, I think affordability is important,” Newsom said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle earlier in November before his trip to Brazil. “When you talk about energy efficiency, you’re talking about saving money.”

Newsom joined the COP30 summit, an annual UN climate meeting, in Belém, Brazil. Normally, US federal officials attend the summit, but the administration skipped the event as chair Donald Trump Bars against climate change as “the greatest scam ever perpetrated in the world”.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom is in the midst of touting his state’s leadership on energy policies while in Brazil for a United Nations climate conference. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“Absolutely,” Newsom said Wednesday when asked if California would represent the United States at the summit, the Los Angeles Times reported. “And I think the world sees us in this light, as a stable partner, a historic partner… in the absence of American leadership. And not just the absence of leadership, but doubling down on the stupidity in terms of global clean energy leadership.”

The governor’s office announced mid-flight that “California’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 21% since 2000 — even as the state’s GDP increased 81% in the same time period,” and that “the state was powered by two-thirds of clean energy” in 2023.

ca Data shows it currently has the highest average gas prices in the country.

Gas prices have always been high in the Golden State, and 2025 will be no different. California currently has the highest average gas prices in the country, at an average of $4.67 per gallon, followed by a list of other states, including Hawaii, Washington, Nevada and Oregon.

Holiday travel is about to reach fever pitch across the country as the airline industry gets back on its feet after a historically long government shutdown that led to nationwide delays — with many travelers expected to hop in their cars for a road trip this Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

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The White House criticized California’s gas price hikes on Fox News Digital Thursday while Newsom was away.

“Governor Neucomb is working overtime to cement his status as the worst governor in America,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “Under his failed leadership, the great state of California suffers some of the highest gas and electricity prices in the country.”

“In fact, California drivers pay $1.60 more than the national average for a gallon of gasoline,” she added. “Gavin, it’s time to abandon your failed experiment in the Green New Scam and embrace President Trump’s successful energy dominance agenda.”

A gas pump displays Biden-era fuel prices, along with a poster of President Joe Biden, at a gas station in Arlington, Virginia. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Current gas prices in the state are lower than they were in 2019, when Newsom was inaugurated as California’s top leader, Newsom’s office spokesman, Izzy Jardon, told Fox Digital Thursday.

“On an annual basis, in real dollars, California gas prices are lower today than they were in the governor’s first year in office — and Californians are getting up to $60 billion in rebates on their utility bills thanks to climate policies that Trump is too lazy or too stupid to understand,” Gardon said. “While Trump tries to make black lung great again, Governor Newsom is in Brazil fighting for clean energy, more jobs, and a livable planet.”

The nation’s average gas price has fallen in recent months, standing at about $3.08 as of Thursday, after reaching a high of $5 per gallon in the summer of 2022 under the Biden administration, according to Gas Buddy data.

Red states currently record the lowest prices, including Oklahoma touting the lowest average price in the country, with a state average of $2.48 per gallon, followed by four other red states with lower average gas prices: Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Department of Energy that publishes independent policy data, attributed the price hikes in California to a series of policies, including state taxes and fees, environmental requirements and special fuel requirements.

California residents will pay an additional $0.90 per gallon in local, state and federal taxes as of March 2025, while the California Energy Commission has estimated that residents will pay an additional $0.54 per gallon in environmental compliance costs. The state also requires fuel in the state to be a special blend that reduces pollution, but it also comes at a higher price, according to the Energy Information Administration.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom traveled to Brazil to attend the COP30 global climate conference, touting his state’s energy policies while the Trump administration was absent from the event. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)

Newsom and Trump have been longtime political rivals, with their fights often centered on energy policy, including Trump criticizing Newsom over its water reserves in a state prone to devastating wildfires, and Trump signing three congressional resolutions ending California’s restrictive diesel engine rules and discretionary auto sales mandates in July.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.