California has highest gas prices in the country as Newsom attends UN summit

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is touting his state’s leadership on energy policy while in Brazil for a United Nations climate conference, while Golden State residents pay the highest gas prices in the United States, largely attributable to state regulations.

“Even if climate change doesn’t 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 we talk about energy efficiency, we talk about saving money.”

Newsom joined the COP30 summit, an annual United Nations climate meeting, in Belém, Brazil. Usually, U.S. federal officials attend the summit, but the administration skipped the event as President Donald Trump denounces climate change as “the greatest scam ever perpetrated on the world.”

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

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

The governor’s office touted during the trip that “California’s greenhouse gas emissions have declined 21 percent since 2000 — even as the state’s GDP grew 81 percent during the same period” and that “the state was two-thirds powered by clean energy” by 2023.

California currently has the highest average gas prices in the country, data shows.

The Golden State has long experienced notoriously high gas prices, and 2025 will be no exception. California currently has the highest average gas price in the country, averaging $4.67 per gallon, followed by a list of other states including Hawaii, Washington, Nevada and Oregon.

Holiday travel is about to reach a fever pitch across the country as the aviation industry gets back on its feet after the historic lengthy 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 high gas prices on Fox News Digital on Thursday while Newsom was abroad.

“Governor Newscum is working overtime to cement his status as the worst governor in America,” White House Press Secretary Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “Under his failed leadership, the great state of California is suffering from some of the highest gas and electricity prices in the nation.”

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

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

Newsom’s office spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Fox Digital on Thursday that current gas prices in the state are lower than in 2019, when Newsom was named California’s top leader.

“Year after year, 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 reductions on their utility bills thanks to climate policy. Trump is either too lazy or too stupid to understand,” Gardon said. “While Trump tries to make Black Lung great again, Governor Newsom is fighting in Brazil for clean energy, more jobs and a livable planet.”

The average gas price in the country has fallen in recent months, settling at around $3.08 on 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 have the lowest prices, including Oklahoma boasting the lowest average price in the country, at an average of $2.48 per gallon, followed by four other red states with low average gas prices: Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration, which is the Department of Energy’s statistical arm that releases policy-independent data, has attributed California’s higher pump prices to a range of policies, including state taxes and fees, environmental requirements and special fuel requirements.

Californians pay $0.90 more per gallon in local, state and federal taxes starting in March 2025, while the California Energy Commission estimates residents pay $0.54 more per gallon in environmental compliance costs. The state also requires that state fuel be a special blend that reduces pollution, but its price is also higher, according to the Energy Information Administration.

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

Newsom and Trump have long been political enemies, with their battles often focusing on energy policy, including Trump blaming Newsom for his water supplies in a state prone to devastating wildfires, and Trump signing a trio of congressional resolutions ending California’s restrictive rules for diesel engines and mandates on elective vehicle sales in July.

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