Karin Buhmann
Full Professor and Research Director, Centre for Law, Sustainability and Justice, University of Southern Denmark; Full Professor of Business & Human Rights, Copenhagen Business School (CBS).
Buhmann holds a LLM from the University of Copenhagen, a Master’s degree in International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute at the University of Lund, a PhD in law from the University of Aarhus, and an advanced doctorate (dr.scient.adm.) [Danish version of a habilitation] from Roskilde University, based on ten years of research of the emergence of the BHR regime.
Buhmann’s research interests include BHR issues in regard to climate change and climate mitigation, in particular in regard to the role of financial institutions to ensure a ‘just transition’; communicative and other regulatory strategies to advance RBC and BHR, including ideals and practice of ‘smart-mix regulation’; risk-based due diligence and its elements, in particular meaningful stakeholder engagement and what this entails from the perspective of rights-holders; non-financial reporting as a potential driver of organizational change as well as the obstacles that impede such change. Buhmann currently leads two research projects on meaningful stakeholder engagement in the Arctic to ensure a green transition with respect for human rights.
Buhmann is the founder or co-founder of several global or regional research networks, including of GREEN-SORT, the Global Research and Engagement Network for Socially Sustainable Transitions (https://blog.cbs.dk/greensort/), and The BHRights Initiative’, a platform on Business & Human Rights for interdisciplinary research and teaching across law and management (https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/departments-and-centres/department-of-management-society-and-communication/the-bhrights-initiative); and the University of the Arctic (UArctic) Thematic Network on Arctic Sustainable Resources and Social Responsibility, https://www.uarctic.org/activities/thematic-networks/arctic-sustainable-resources-and-social-responsibility/
Recent publications:
Buhmann, K. (2021) Human rights: a key idea for business and society. Routledge, https://www.routledge.com/Human-Rights-A-Key-Idea-for-Business-and-Society/Buhmann/p/book/9780367520540
Bright, Claire, and Buhmann, K. (2021) Risk-based due diligence, climate change, human rights and the just transition. Sustainability 13(18), special issue on Business, Human Rights and the Environment, DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810454
Buhmann, K. (2018) Power, Procedure, Participation and Legitimacy in Global Sustainability Regulation: a theory of Collaborative Regulation. Routledge, https://www.routledge.com/Power-Procedure-Participation-and-Legitimacy-in-Global-Sustainability/Buhmann/p/book/9780367273453
Buhmann, K. (2017) Changing sustainability norms through communicative processes: the
emergence of the Business & Human Rights regime as transnational law. Edward Elgar, https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/changing-sustainability-norms-through-communication-processes-9781786431646.html