diff --git a/src/gt4py/cartesian/backend/__init__.py b/src/gt4py/cartesian/backend/__init__.py
index 7dcb7c9380..b3bc5e64fa 100644
--- a/src/gt4py/cartesian/backend/__init__.py
+++ b/src/gt4py/cartesian/backend/__init__.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 
 from warnings import warn
 
+from gt4py.cartesian import config as gt_config
+
 from .base import REGISTRY, Backend, BaseBackend, BasePyExtBackend, from_name, register
 from .debug_backend import DebugBackend
 from .gtcpp_backend import GTCpuIfirstBackend, GTCpuKfirstBackend, GTGpuBackend
@@ -31,12 +33,13 @@
 ]
 
 
-try:
-    from .dace_backend import DaceCPUBackend, DaceCPUKFirstBackend, DaceGPUBackend
+if gt_config.GT4PY_CART_ENABLE_DACE:
+    try:
+        from .dace_backend import DaceCPUBackend, DaceCPUKFirstBackend, DaceGPUBackend
 
-    __all__ += ["DaceCPUBackend", "DaceCPUKFirstBackend", "DaceGPUBackend"]
-except ImportError:
-    warn(
-        "GT4Py was unable to load DaCe. DaCe backends (`dace:cpu`, `dace:cpu_kfirst`, and `dace:gpu`) will not be available.",
-        stacklevel=2,
-    )
+        __all__ += ["DaceCPUBackend", "DaceCPUKFirstBackend", "DaceGPUBackend"]
+    except ImportError:
+        warn(
+            "GT4Py was unable to load DaCe. DaCe backends (`dace:cpu`, `dace:cpu_kfirst`, and `dace:gpu`) will not be available.",
+            stacklevel=2,
+        )
diff --git a/src/gt4py/cartesian/config.py b/src/gt4py/cartesian/config.py
index a9ded21ec7..c649d63f37 100644
--- a/src/gt4py/cartesian/config.py
+++ b/src/gt4py/cartesian/config.py
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
 GT4PY_COMPILE_OPT_LEVEL: str = os.environ.get("GT4PY_COMPILE_OPT_LEVEL", "3")
 GT4PY_EXTRA_COMPILE_OPT_FLAGS: str = os.environ.get("GT4PY_EXTRA_COMPILE_OPT_FLAGS", "")
 
+GT4PY_CART_ENABLE_DACE: bool = bool(int(os.environ.get("GT4PY_CART_ENABLE_DACE", "1")))
+
 # Settings dict
 GT4PY_EXTRA_COMPILE_ARGS: str = os.environ.get("GT4PY_EXTRA_COMPILE_ARGS", "")
 extra_compile_args: List[str] = (
diff --git a/src/gt4py/cartesian/gtscript.py b/src/gt4py/cartesian/gtscript.py
index 56bf8874a8..da02e7951c 100644
--- a/src/gt4py/cartesian/gtscript.py
+++ b/src/gt4py/cartesian/gtscript.py
@@ -20,14 +20,15 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 
-from gt4py.cartesian import definitions as gt_definitions
+from gt4py.cartesian import config as gt_config, definitions as gt_definitions
 from gt4py.cartesian.lazy_stencil import LazyStencil
 
 
-try:
-    from gt4py.cartesian.backend.dace_lazy_stencil import DaCeLazyStencil
-except ImportError:
-    DaCeLazyStencil = LazyStencil  # type: ignore
+if gt_config.GT4PY_CART_ENABLE_DACE:
+    try:
+        from gt4py.cartesian.backend.dace_lazy_stencil import DaCeLazyStencil
+    except ImportError:
+        DaCeLazyStencil = LazyStencil  # type: ignore
 
 # GTScript builtins
 MATH_BUILTINS = {