Welcome to the Spotlight Series, where we put the focus on the talented individuals who contribute to the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy here in Trinity College Dublin.
Each month, we sit down with a member of our research team to learn more about their areas of expertise, what the turning points have been in their career, and what inspires them in their daily lives.
Dr Gustav Fredriksson
Dr Gustav Fredriksson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics. His research focuses on environmental economics and macroeconomics. He uses microdata together with structural macro modeling to examine the effects of the green transition on labor markets, inequality, and welfare. He is especially interested in how the green transition affects heterogeneous workers and households.
What is your current area of research?
My research is at the intersection of macro and environmental economics. I look at how the shift to a low-carbon economy affects different households and workers. The aim is to understand how we can make the low-carbon transition fairer, so that the costs of the transition do not fall disproportionately on vulnerable socioeconomic groups.
What question or challenge were you setting out to address when you started this work?
The central question I set out to address is how we can combat climate change without creating adverse distributional impacts. Climate change, if left unchecked, will have devastating impacts on our societies and ambitious policies are needed to combat it. But for these policies to gain public support, their costs must be shared in a fair manner. My research asks how climate policies can be designed so that the costs of these policies are distributed equitably.
Share a turning point or defining moment in your work as a researcher?
A defining experience was working on climate policy issues at a think tank in Brussels. I realized there just how important fairness is to the low-carbon transition and that, without fairness, the transition is unlikely to succeed.
Briefly, what excites you about your research?
I find it exciting to address an urgent issue like climate change. The research community has a big role to play in combatting climate change as there is much we still do not understand about managing the transition to a low-carbon world. It is exciting to fill some of these knowledge gaps and to contribute to climate policies that are both ambitious and politically acceptable.
What do you like to do when you are not working?
I am a big chess fan who plays more or less every day. I also enjoy sports, socialising, reading, and trying new restaurants.
What are you currently reading?
“Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid” by Douglas Hofstadter.
If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?
Franz Kafka. He is my favourite author, and his mysterious books leave me with so many questions. I suspect I would walk away from the dinner with even more questions though.
What would people be surprised to find out about you?
That, as a Swede, I have never seen the Northern Lights.
March 2026
Past Stories
- Asli Ceren Cinar December 2025
- Ashley Shaw October 2025
- Kat Chzhen February 2025
- Maylis Avaro December 2024
- Phil Mullen October 2024
- Gizem Arikan February 2025