<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Litigation

Sabin

Sabin Litigation

decision

Mr A v. Municipality of Saint-Brancher - decision

Filing Year For Action

In January 2023, the plaintiff asked the Administrative Tribunal of Dijon to overturn the denial of his building permit application in 2022 for a chicken coop. He argued that the municipality's refusal, based on interests protected under the Environmental Code, was unfounded and that the municipality could not claim the project posed a threat to public health or safety without actually demonstrating such a threat.

The tribunal held that the fact that the project involves a facility regulated under facility classified for environmental protection purposes (industrial and agricultural activities that may pose dangers or disadvantages to health, public safety, agriculture, nature, the environment, or landscapes) does not prevent the mayor from denying a building permit on the grounds of risk to water resources, taking climate change into account. The tribunal further held that a municipality is entitled to deny a land use permit on public health grounds when the project creates a risk to the drinking water supply, considering not only current population water needs but also climate change projections. The Administrative tribunal relied on current and historical data, and also on projections regarding the future evolution of water resources in the context of climate change: "The study conducted by the Morvan Regional Nature Park also indicates a downward trend in water resources, which could decrease by 30% by 2050 according to projections. The low flow rate recorded in August 2023 therefore has a high likelihood of recurring regularly; moreover, if a flow rate below 70 m³ occurs while a flock of poultry is at the end of its growth cycle, daily withdrawals from the public network reservoir could exceed the flow rate of its source springs by approximately 5 m³ per day."

Finally, the tribunal found that the water resource concern, standing alone, was sufficient to justify the building permit denial. The tribunal therefore dismissed the plaintiffs demands on November 13, 2025.


Mr A v. Municipality of Saint-Brancher

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

Mr A v. Municipality of Saint-Brancher - decision

Policy instrument

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance