Sjoukje van Oosterhout

Sjoukje van Oosterhout
Van Oosterhout in 2016
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
12 November 2025
Personal details
Born (1993-04-29) 29 April 1993
Veendam
PartyGroenLinks
ParentEric van Oosterhout (father)
Alma materUniversity of Groningen (BA) London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc)
OccupationLegal researcher

Sjoukje van Oosterhout (Dutch: [ˈɕʌukjə vɑn ˈoːstərɦʌut]; born 29 April 1993) is a Dutch politician who was elected member of the House of Representatives for the party alliance GroenLinks-PvdA in 2025. She is also a legal researcher at Milieudefensie, and led the legal team that won the landmark ruling against Royal Dutch Shell, considered the first major lawsuit to hold a corporation responsible in line with the Paris Agreement.

Early life

Sjoukje van Oosterhout was born in 1993 in Veendam and grew up in East Groningen in the earthquake zone.[1] She is the daughter of current Mayor of Emmen, Eric van Oosterhout, who is a member of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA).[1][2] She has two sisters, and an adopted Greek stray dog, Benny.[1]

Political activity

In 2014, she was elected as Youth Representative for European Affairs by the Dutch National Youth Council (Nationale Jeugdraad (NJR), an umbrella for youth organisations. Then, she expressed interests in youth unemployment, education about Europe, climate and sustainability, and cross-border European cooperation.[3][4]

In the 2019 European Parliament elections, she was twelfth place on the GroenLinks candidate list.[5]

2025 House of Representatives elections

Sjoukje van Oosterhout was tenth place on GroenLinks-PvdA's candidate list and was elected (then installed on 12 November 2025), since the party coalition won 20 seats.[1][5][6][7][8][9] GroenLinks-PvdA was previously the largest opposition party but in fourth, losing 5 seats from the 2023 general elections, triggering the departure of the coalition leader, Frans Timmermans.[7][8]

She has expressed a primary interest in climate issues and policy, as well as the Dutch housing crisis, public transport, and representing Drenthe and the north of the Netherlands such with local issues such as high energy costs.[2] Her interest in climate issues and policy comes from her experience living in the Groningen earthquake area, and politicisation of it and Groningen residents' experiences.[2][1]

Education and work

van Oosterhout studied international relations and international organisation in the University of Groningen with a specialisation in European integration from 2011 to 2016, and a Master in European Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science from 2016 to 2017.[5]

She has worked with Milieudefensie (Dutch environmental non-governmental organisation) since 2020, and was a principal investigator and team leader on the legal team that won a lawsuit against Shell forcing it to reduce its global carbon emissions from its 2019 levels by 45% by 2030 for both its operations and products.[1] The case was considered a landmark ruling for holding a corporation responsible in line with the Paris Agreement.[10][11][12] She is also a spokesperson for the organisation.[5]

She also previously worked for Cicero Group as a sustainable finance consultant, for Friends of the Earth in London, and as a policy advisor for the Seattle to Brussels Network in Brussels.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "'Uitblinker' moet in de Kamer nieuwe stem voor het klimaat worden". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  2. ^ a b c "Sjoukje en Eric van Oosterhout onder dezelfde paraplu: 'Hoop dat hij binnenkort wordt gezien als de vader van'" (in Dutch). RTV Drenthe. 18 October 2025.
  3. ^ "Groningse studente wordt Europese jongerenvertegenwoordiger". rtvnoord.nl (in Dutch). 10 June 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  4. ^ "Sjoukje van Oosterhout naar Brussel voor jeugdwerkloosheid". rtvdrenthe.nl (in Dutch). 30 September 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e "A.S. (Sjoukje) van Oosterhout". parlement.com. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  6. ^ "Sjoukje van Oosterhout". GroenLinks-PvdA (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b Nieuwsredactie (29 October 2025). "Frans Timmermans stapt op als leider GL-PvdA na verlies van vijf zetels in exitpoll". Nu.nl. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  8. ^ a b "D66 en PVV nek aan nek, verschil minder dan 2000 stemmen". nos.nl (in Dutch). 29 October 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  9. ^ van Wijngaarden, Arend (30 October 2025). "Welke Groningers en Drenten komen nu in de Tweede Kamer? En welke Kamerleden vertrekken?". Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  10. ^ "Shell ordered to reduce CO2 emissions – DW – 05/26/2021". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 25 October 2025.
  11. ^ Kotzé, Louis J.; Mayer, Benoit; van Asselt, Harro; Setzer, Joana; Biermann, Frank; Celis, Nicolas; Adelman, Sam; Lewis, Bridget; Kennedy, Amanda; Arling, Helen; Peters, Birgit (2024). "Courts, climate litigation and the evolution of earth system law". Global Policy. 15 (1): 5–22. doi:10.1111/1758-5899.13291. ISSN 1758-5899.
  12. ^ "Milieudefensie wint rechtszaak tegen Shell: CO2-uitstoot moet sneller dalen". nos.nl (in Dutch). 26 May 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2025.


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