diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 5f0a0004ad..947274ea19 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -511,9 +511,6 @@ Features:
 
 * support projid-based quota in machinectl for containers
 
-* maybe use SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH (i.e. the env var the reproducible builds folks
-  introduced) as the RTC epoch, instead of the mtime of NEWS.
-
 * add a way to lock down cgroup migration: a boolean, which when set for a unit
   makes sure the processes in it can never migrate out of it
 
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 580d5126fa..e9eb7f9569 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -669,8 +669,13 @@ conf.set_quoted('DEFAULT_NET_NAMING_SCHEME', default_net_naming_scheme)
 
 time_epoch = get_option('time-epoch')
 if time_epoch == -1
-        NEWS = files('NEWS')
-        time_epoch = run_command(stat, '-c', '%Y', NEWS).stdout().to_int()
+        source_date_epoch = run_command('sh', ['-c', 'echo "$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH"']).stdout().strip()
+        if source_date_epoch != ''
+                time_epoch = source_date_epoch.to_int()
+        else
+                NEWS = files('NEWS')
+                time_epoch = run_command(stat, '-c', '%Y', NEWS).stdout().to_int()
+        endif
 endif
 conf.set('TIME_EPOCH', time_epoch)