Bengt Johannsen successfully completed his law studies at Bucerius Law School and ESADE Law School in Spain in 2022. During his studies, he focused on corporate and capital markets law and was actively involved in socio-political initiatives, including participation in several student organizations such as the UNICEF Campus Group. His social commitment also led him to a board position in a political youth organization on university level.
After finishing his degree, Bengt worked as a research associate in the litigation departments of NEUWERK and White & Case LLP. Since autumn 2025, he has been working as a research assistant at the chair of Prof. Dr. Jelena Bäumler (Chair of Public Law and International Law with a focus on sustainability). There, he mainly deals with questions of state liability in the context of climate protection law.
Bengt has been involved in the climate movement for several years. Particularly noteworthy is his role as a member of the organizing team of the Hamburger Zukunftsentscheid - a referendum through which a transparent and socially just climate protection law entered into force in Hamburg, and in which he continues to be actively involved.
Bengt’s research on the topic “Legal Protection in the Climate Crisis – a Critical Legal Analysis” focuses on identifying the legal potentials of human rights–based climate litigation. His work takes an interdisciplinary legal approach, examining both private and public law. Substantively, he addresses in particular access to legal protection, legal reasoning in the context of climate change, and substantive legal standard challenges. A special emphasis is placed on the (potential) impact of legal protection on societal change.
Johannsen, Bengt; Kotzé, Louis J.; Macchi, Chiara, An empty victory? Shell v. Milieudefensie et al 2024, the legal obligations of carbon majors, and the prospects for future climate litigation action, RECIEL 34(1), 270-278, doi.org/10.1111/reel.12604.