Environmental quality and household energy vulnerability during global energy-sector disruptions: an adaptive indicator-based framework with evidence from Lithuania

Global crises and disruptions increasingly affect energy systems in ways that extend beyond market outcomes to environmental quality pressures and household vulnerability.

By Šikšnelytė-Butkienė, Streimikiene, BaležentisManagement of Environmental Quality An International JournalOct 17, 2026

Score████░░░░░░4.3

VerdictWorth a reader's time today.

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Abstract

Purpose Global crises and disruptions increasingly affect energy systems in ways that extend beyond market outcomes to environmental quality pressures and household vulnerability. However, crisis-impact evidence remains fragmented, limiting its usability for integrated monitoring and prioritisation. Design/methodology/approach This study proposes an adaptive, indicator-based framework to identify environmental quality and household energy vulnerability impact domains of global crises affecting the energy sector and demonstrates its application using Lithuania during the initial COVID-19 crisis phase. The framework integrates four domains (energy demand and energy efficiency; air pollution and emissions pressures; renewable energy development; household energy vulnerability) operationalised through 33 sub-indicators drawn from Eurostat, national statistics and a complementary household survey. Findings Results indicate crisis-period reallocation patterns rather than uniform sectoral contraction: aggregate final energy consumption declined while residential electricity and gas use increased; NO2 concentrations and emissions from stationary sources decreased; renewable capacity and renewable shares increased, reflecting both continued deployment and demand-related shifts and EU-SILC energy poverty outcomes did not worsen in 2020 despite rising electricity prices and reported affordability constraints, suggesting time lags between pressure indicators and deprivation measures. Originality/value The framework contributes by integrating environmental quality, energy-system and household vulnerability indicators within one monitoring structure, thereby enabling crisis-period signals to be interpreted jointly rather than as separate environmental, energy or social outcomes. Designed for use across crisis episodes and phases, the framework supports integrated monitoring and evidence-informed prioritisation under uncertainty in Lithuania and comparable EU contexts.

Indrė Šikšnelytė-Butkienė, Dalia Streimikiene, Tomas Baležentis

The editor's rubric

Heuristic review

Leverage3 / 5: A method or resource many groups across the field will adopt within a year.; 16% of this desk’s rubric
Magnitude2 / 5: Solid incremental gain on a meaningful problem.; 20% of this desk’s rubric
Evidence3 / 5: Solid: multiple benchmarks or cohorts, ablations, fair baselines, released code or data.; 20% of this desk’s rubric
Novelty2 / 5: A new combination of known ideas.; 10% of this desk’s rubric
Trajectory3 / 5: A clear path to scale.; 14% of this desk’s rubric
Stakes3 / 5: Meaningful benefit to many people within a few years.; 20% of this desk’s rubric

Dimension	Level	Weight	What that level means
Leverage	███░░ 3	16%	A method or resource many groups across the field will adopt within a year.
Magnitude	██░░░ 2	20%	Solid incremental gain on a meaningful problem.
Evidence	███░░ 3	20%	Solid: multiple benchmarks or cohorts, ablations, fair baselines, released code or data.
Novelty	██░░░ 2	10%	A new combination of known ideas.
Trajectory	███░░ 3	14%	A clear path to scale.
Stakes	███░░ 3	20%	Meaningful benefit to many people within a few years.

Editor’s rationale

Heuristic triage from title and abstract text only, not a reading of the paper. Cues found: breadth (many tasks); novelty (alternative to status quo); verification (error bars); scale (efficient); stakes (global scale, energy, climate).

How the score was computed

rank-2026-10-18

Score████░░░░░░4.3

Score = 10 × (75% × adjusted merit / 10 + 15% × attention + 10% × freshness)

Desks place stronger verdicts first, then use this score to order work within the same verdict.

Merit: 5.4 / 10; Weighted rubric, evidence-gated.
Adjusted merit: 4.6 / 10; Shrunk toward the desk prior by editor confidence (44%).
Attention: 0%; Citations, upvotes, points, mentions.
Freshness: 85%; Half-life decay since publication.

Citations0 (reference 15, via openalex, Oct 19, 2026, 06:46 UTC)

The record

Reviewed by heuristic-v7 on Oct 19, 2026, 06:46 UTC. Paper type: empirical.
Categories: COVID-19 impact on air quality, Energy, Environment, Economic Growth, Global Energy Security and Policy, Global and Planetary Change, Environmental Science
TOP, No.4 in the Climate & Energy edition of October 19, 2026.