The single highest-emitting power plant in the world is Taean in South Korea, at roughly 29 million tonnes of CO₂e per year — more than the annual emissions of some entire countries. Of the 50 highest-emitting power plants, 47 are coal-fired, and China holds 28 of them. Together the top 50 emit on the order of 1 billion tonnes of CO₂e a year.
Whatever progress renewables make in capacity terms, the dirtiest end of the global fleet is still overwhelmingly coal —
large baseload units that run at high capacity factors year-round. 47 of the top 50 are coal-fired.
A few countries hold most of it
Top countries among the 50 dirtiest plants: China (28), South Africa (8), India (5), South Korea (3), Saudi Arabia (3).
This reflects where large coal-heavy baseload was built and is still dispatched — and where the highest-leverage
retirements and retrofits sit.
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0). Click a box to select, then Ctrl/Cmd-C. Download the full dataset (CSV) · Zenodo snapshot v2, released 2026-07.
Frequently asked questions
Which power plant emits the most CO₂?
Taean (South Korea, coal) at ~29 Mt CO₂e/yr is the single highest emitter.
Are the dirtiest power plants coal or gas?
Overwhelmingly coal — 47 of the top 50 highest-emitting plants are coal-fired.
How is this CO₂ figure measured?
These are modelled estimates from Climate TRACE (satellite + other observation), not audited stack data — directional, not tonne-perfect.
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