GHG Emissions by U.S. State

Why state totals matter

State-level greenhouse gas reporting is the bridge between facility-by-facility regulatory data and the broader climate-policy frame. Most U.S. states now publish their own climate action plans, cap-and-invest programs, or renewable portfolio standards that depend on transparent inventories of where emissions originate within their borders. The EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) provides the foundation: every facility emitting 25,000 metric tons CO2-equivalent or more per year files an annual return that is then aggregated to county, state, and national rollups.

Totals on this page sum each state's reported facility emissions across all covered years since 2011. This cumulative view differs from year-only state inventories produced under the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: GHGRP captures direct emissions from large reporters, while the state inventories also incorporate transportation fuel use, agricultural emissions, and land-use change estimates. Both are valid framings; the GHGRP frame is the most concrete because every reported tonne corresponds to a specific facility with a verifiable identifier.

Reading the state rankings

Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana consistently top the state rankings, reflecting the geographic concentration of petroleum refining, natural gas systems, and coal-fired electricity generation in those states. The facility count gives texture to the headline tonnage: a state with a small number of very large reporters (refining-heavy Louisiana) carries a different policy profile than a state with many mid-sized reporters (manufacturing-diverse Ohio). Both are visible by toggling between aggregate and per-facility views on each state page.

Lower-emitting states are not necessarily "cleaner" by every measure. A state with little industrial base will report low GHGRP totals while still carrying substantial transportation, residential, or agricultural emissions invisible to this dataset. Use the state pages as a starting point for the large-emitter footprint; pair with state inventory documents and the EIA's State Energy Data System for the full picture.

What each state page contains

Every state detail page shows the top reporting facilities, top reporting companies, sector mix (electricity, refining, chemicals, minerals, etc.), and year-over-year movement where the data permits. Each entry links back to the underlying EPA filings so you can verify the raw return. Where a state has implemented its own cap-and-trade program (California, the RGGI states, Washington), we link to the program's reporting page so the federal and state-level numbers can be reconciled side-by-side.

This data is updated annually as new GHGRP reporting years are finalized. The EPA publishes the GHGRP FLIGHT tool around October of each year for the prior reporting year (e.g., 2023 emissions appear in October 2024). State pages on PlainCarbon refresh shortly thereafter; we note the data vintage on every page so you can verify recency at a glance.