Explore our knowledge

Karin Buh­mann

Professor

Subjects
ESG Sustainability Green transition Climate Human rights Arctic

Primary research areas

Busi­ness & Hu­man Rights (BHR)
Busi­ness & Hu­man Rights (BHR) is an in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary field re­lated to busi­ness eth­ics, man­age­ment, and hu­man rights law. BHR has sig­ni­fic­antly in­flu­enced norms and so­cial ex­pect­a­tions on re­spons­ible busi­ness con­duct and prac­tice, cor­por­ate sustain­ability due di­li­gence and re­port­ing, com­pany law, and no­tions of cor­por­ate sustain­ability. My re­search ex­plores how com­pan­ies in­ter­n­al­ise BHR norms, in­clud­ing due di­li­gence, and cas­cade them into their value chains. I also look at how in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions and na­tion­al gov­ern­ments can stim­u­late cor­por­ate up­take of BHR and rel­ev­ant or­gan­isa­tion­al change.
Just and fair en­ergy trans­itions
I add ‘fair’ to the concept of ‘just en­ergy trans­itions’ to un­der­score that my re­search relates not only to jobs and em­ploy­ment af­fected by the trans­ition (the ori­gin­al sense of ‘just trans­ition’) but in par­tic­u­lar to im­pacts on com­munit­ies that host or are neigh­bours of in­dustry activ­it­ies re­lated to the pro­duc­tion of re­new­able en­ergy. These im­pacts are press­ing in the High North and Arc­tic as well as in the Glob­al South. My re­search looks at im­pacts on, in­volve­ment of, and re­sponses by com­munit­ies af­fected by wind farms, hy­dro­power, sol­ar as well as the min­ing and pro­duc­tion of min­er­als re­quired for re­new­able en­ergy pro­duc­tion, trans­mis­sion and stor­age.
Pub­lic, hy­brid, private and ‘smart’ sustain­ability reg­u­la­tion
Pub­lic, hy­brid, private and ‘smart’ sustain­ability reg­u­la­tion relates to dif­fer­ent ways in which sustain­ability may be gov­erned. Ad­opt­ing a so­cio-leg­al ap­proach to this top­ic, I am par­tic­u­larly in­ter­ested in how sustain­ability and re­spons­ible busi­ness con­duct may be ad­vanced in or­gan­isa­tions so that rel­ev­ant or­gan­isa­tion­al change and ad­apt­a­tion take place. Pro-act­ive ac­tion to identi­fy and pre­vent harm­ful im­pacts is of­ten more ef­fect­ive than re-act­ive sanc­tions that rarely un-do so­cial or en­vir­on­ment­al harm or cli­mate change. My re­search ex­plores such reg­u­lat­ory dy­nam­ics, ef­fect­ive­ness, and drivers.
Re­spons­ible busi­ness con­duct (RBC)
Re­spons­ible busi­ness con­duct (RBC) con­cerns cor­por­ate sustain­ability and so­cial respons­ibility, with a point of de­par­ture in the OECD Guidelines for MNEs on Re­spons­ible Busi­ness Con­duct. The Guidelines of­fer com­pan­ies and their value chains guid­ance re­gard to hu­man rights, la­bour and in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions, en­vir­on­ment and cli­mate change, cor­rup­tion and oth­er is­sues. They also es­tab­lish a rem­edy sys­tem around Na­tion­al Con­tact Points (NCPs). My re­search ex­plores how com­pan­ies re­spond to the Guidelines and NCP cases, and how RBC norms and NCP cases con­trib­ute to shap­ing wider no­tions of cor­por­ate sustain­ability and so­cial respons­ibility.
Risk-based due di­li­gence/Cor­por­ate sustain­ability due di­li­gence
Risk-based or cor­por­ate sustain­ability due di­li­gence in its ori­gin refers to a man­age­ment pro­cess for com­pan­ies to identi­fy and handle risks to so­ci­ety that res­ult from their op­er­a­tions or busi­ness in­volve­ment. My re­search ex­plores how com­pan­ies un­der­stand and ap­proach risk-based due di­li­gence, any trans­formation in un­der­stand­ing or prac­tice that fol­lows a surge in man­dat­ory due di­li­gence (for ex­ample in EU law), how com­pan­ies may cas­cade good due di­li­gence along their value chains, and what drives ef­fect­ive due di­li­gence in com­pan­ies.
Deep-sea min­ing
Deep-sea min­ing (DSM) is a nov­el form of min­ing that may po­ten­tially in­crease ac­cess to crit­ic­al min­er­als needed for the en­ergy trans­ition, but which may also have sig­ni­fic­ant eco­sys­tem­ic im­plic­a­tions both in oceans and on land. This is a press­ing di­lemma, be­cause the quest for trans­ition min­er­als for cli­mate change mit­ig­a­tion may lead to an­oth­er ma­jor sys­tem­ic crisis through DSM. As DSM tech­niques are in their in­fancy, now is the time to try to un­der­stand such risks or im­pacts and build sound prac­tices for re­spons­ible busi­ness con­duct and sus­tain­able glob­al cli­mate mit­ig­a­tion. My re­search con­trib­utes to the emer­gent in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary DSM schol­ar­ship by ex­amin­ing how this may be done and seek­ing to pro­pose mod­els.
Crit­ic­al min­er­als and re­spons­ible min­ing
As cli­mate change mit­ig­a­tion re­quires huge amounts of crit­ic­al min­er­als for the tech­nic­al solu­tions and in­fra­struc­tures, the case for re­spons­ible min­ing of such min­er­als only grows. Work­ing with part­ners in the Glob­al South and the Arc­tic, my re­search ex­plores drivers and dy­nam­ics of re­spons­ible min­ing in the ex­tract­ive sec­tor, the value chain, and their fin­ance pro­viders.
Sus­tain­able fin­ance
An emer­gent field of re­search and prac­tice, sus­tain­able fin­ance is con­cerned with how fin­ance pro­viders may de­ploy their lever­age and know­ledge ca­pa­cit­ies to sup­port or de­mand so­cially, en­vir­on­ment­ally and cli­mate-sus­tain­able prac­tices in in­ves­ted com­pan­ies. My re­search ex­am­ines this with a par­tic­u­lar fo­cus on act­ors with­in crit­ic­al min­er­als, in par­tic­u­lar land-based min­ing com­pan­ies as well as com­pan­ies with an in­terest in deep-sea min­ing.

Re­search that ad­vances in­teg­rated sustain­ability and re­spons­ible busi­ness con­duct

My research and teaching focus on sustainability and responsible business conduct (RBC) with a particular emphasis on social issues and the human dimension, also when this results from environmental, climate or wider nature impacts. With a wide take on business responsibilities for human rights and keen interest in just and fair transitions, much of my recent and current research and expertise aim at natural resource governance and extraction, in the High North/Arctic as well as the Global South and Europe.  

I approach these issues from the perspective of public governance and public-private regulation, exploring how public and private organizations do or can work together to address global concerns related to sustainable human development. 

With a background in international and public law and a socio-legal leaning, I favour a pragmatic approach over a dogmatic approach to legal issues and apply methods and theories from the social sciences wide sense to understand normative developments and organizational integration. 

Publications

See all publications

September 2025

The Road to the EU Omnibus

The Explanatory Potential of Danish Experiences in Transformational and Informational Approaches to Mandatory Sustainability Reporting

Ka­rin Buh­mann, Professor

Go to publication

20 May 2025

“EU’s Omnibus og CSRD: Stiller vi de rigtige spørgsmål?”

Ka­rin Buh­mann, Professor

Go to publication

2025

Non-financial Reporting Between Information and Transformation

Taking a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Approach to Advancing Sustainable and Responsible Business Conduct

Ka­rin Buh­mann, Professor

Go to publication

Recent research projects

Fron­ti­ers of nat­ur­al re­source and sustain­ability gov­ernance for a just en­ergy trans­ition [FRON­TI­ERS]

Based on a five-year Sem­per Ar­dens Ac­com­plish award from the Carls­berg Found­a­tion, this pro­ject ex­plores fron­ti­ers along two di­men­sions: evolving sustain­ability gov­ernance; and ex­pand­ing nat­ur­al re­source use and ex­trac­tion for the green trans­ition. With an em­phas­is on crit­ic­al min­er­als, in­clud­ing po­ten­tial deep-sea min­ing, risk-based due di­li­gence, and sus­tain­able fin­ance, we sim­ul­tan­eously push the in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary and trans­dis­cip­lin­ary re­search fron­ti­er for a com­pre­hens­ively sus­tain­able trans­ition to­wards low-car­bon so­ci­et­ies.
Go to project website

To­wards a so­cially just trans­ition in the Arc­tic: Ex­plor­ing, the­or­iz­ing and dis­sem­in­at­ing best prac­tice in mean­ing­ful stake­hold­er en­gage­ment for com­munit­ies

Fun­ded by the Nor­d­ic Coun­cil of Min­is­ters’ Arc­tic Co­oper­a­tion Pro­gramme, this multi-year re­search pro­ject in­volves field re­search with com­munit­ies, com­pan­ies and au­thor­it­ies in Green­land, Canada, Fin­land, Ice­land and Nor­way. Res­ults are not only shared through aca­dem­ic pub­lic­a­tions but also dis­sem­in­ated in easy-ac­cess formats.

Outside activities

NCP Den­mark , 2024 - 2027

Ex­pert mem­ber of the Dan­ish Na­tion­al Con­tact Point un­der OECD’s Guidelines for Mul­tina­tion­al En­ter­prises (NCP Den­mark/Mæglings- og Klagein­sti­tu­tion­en for An­s­var­lig Virk­som­hed­sledelse).
NCP Denmark members

Uni­ver­sity of South­ern Den­mark (SDU) , 2021 - 2026

Pro­fess­or (part time) at the De­part­ment of Law
Staff list at SDU