A post by Simone Borghesi
On September 1, 2019, the FSR Climate team started a new LIFE project entitled Deepening International Cooperation on Emissions Trading (DICET). The project, co-funded by the LIFE Programme of the European Union, focuses on the international carbon market cooperation between the EC and the regulators of other major Emission Trading Systems, namely, California-Quebec, China, Switzerland and New Zealand and intends to support EU and Member State policymakers in deepening international cooperation for the development and possible integration of carbon markets at the world level.
The choice of the acronym DICET is not by chance. The word DICET is the third person singular of the simple future of the Latin verb dicere (to say, tell). So, mixing English (the world official language nowadays) and Latin (the European official language during the Roman Empire), LIFE DICET can be translated into “life will tell”.
We liked this future perspective that the project title conveys by mixing past and present languages.
Indeed, life will tell whether the project manages to enhance dialogue and cooperation across Emission Trading Systems regulators, as we hope and firmly believe.
Life will tell whether Emission Trading Systems can play an increasingly important role for decarbonization in the future, as the rapid spread of these instruments in many countries seems to suggest.
Life will tell whether mankind manages to stop global warming and rapidly address the urgent challenge posed by climate change, as the Fridays for Future movement calls for.
Our project is not for life, it will run only until December 2021. However, we believe it can contribute to mutual learning across jurisdictions and to sow the seeds of mutual trust that is the basis for future stronger and long-lasting cooperation.
The project will certainly work in this direction by sharing information and knowledge across the main Emission Trading Systems. Whether and when this will lead to more cooperation in climate policies worldwide…life will tell.