An Integrated Socio-Spatial Framework Linking Energy Poverty Indicators and Household Emissions—The Case of Rural Hungary

This study proposes an integrated analytical framework (IAF) as a tool to simultaneously assess vulnerable social groups within their administrative context. This study hypothesizes that analyzing vulnerable groups through socio-spatial delineation reveals subnational disparities and sub-regional heterogeneity in energy poverty (EP) indicators, associated with additional context-sensitive environmental consequences of energy use. Using Hungarian deprived rural settlements (DRSs) (n = 300) as an example, mixed methods were applied to examine national–regional disparities, intra-regional variations, and the environmental implications of extreme household energy use practices. Results show that both socio-economic indicators and building energy efficiency, and energy-use profiles, fall short of national indicator performance. The sample outlined by the IAF performed homogeneously regarding socio-economic circumstances and showed mild differences in housing quality and energy access. These results indicate not structural differences but variation in underlying regional drivers, highlighting the region-specific manifestation of EP. The energy-use-related environmental assessment was performed using a parametrized building-stock model and the two most extreme energy-use scenarios for households relying on solid fuels. The results suggest that the use of substitute fuels substantially increases the combined emissions of CO2, CO, PM, NOx, and SOx by up to 32 percentage points. Although limitations constrain the reporting of empirically representative results, findings underscore the potential policy relevance of DRSs in national climate objectives.