diff --git a/misc/docker/Dockerfile b/misc/docker/Dockerfile
index 20171d250..7b2865c94 100644
--- a/misc/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/misc/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ ONBUILD ENV \
     ENV=/etc/profile \
     PATH=/root/.nix-profile/bin:/root/.nix-profile/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin \
     GIT_SSL_CAINFO=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt \
-    SSL_CERT_FILE=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
+    NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
 
 ENV \
     ENV=/etc/profile \
     PATH=/root/.nix-profile/bin:/root/.nix-profile/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin \
     GIT_SSL_CAINFO=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt \
-    SSL_CERT_FILE=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt \
+    NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt \
     NIX_PATH=/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/
diff --git a/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in b/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
index 0dd665db6..c5ef97ee9 100644
--- a/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
+++ b/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     <string>/dev/null</string>
     <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
     <dict>
-      <key>SSL_CERT_FILE</key>
+      <key>NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE</key>
       <string>/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt</string>
     </dict>
   </dict>
diff --git a/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh b/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
index a6b764bcb..3b8c97ed2 100644
--- a/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
@@ -76,9 +76,9 @@ if ! $nix/bin/nix-env -i "$nix"; then
 fi
 
 # Install an SSL certificate bundle.
-if [ -z "$SSL_CERT_FILE" -o ! -f "$SSL_CERT_FILE" ]; then
+if [ -z "$NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE" -o ! -f "$NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE" ]; then
     $nix/bin/nix-env -i "$cacert"
-    export SSL_CERT_FILE="$HOME/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
+    export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE="$HOME/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
 fi
 
 # Subscribe the user to the Nixpkgs channel and fetch it.
diff --git a/scripts/nix-profile.sh.in b/scripts/nix-profile.sh.in
index 41111848b..3cdf43104 100644
--- a/scripts/nix-profile.sh.in
+++ b/scripts/nix-profile.sh.in
@@ -66,19 +66,19 @@ if [ -n "$HOME" ] && [ -n "$USER" ]; then
         fi
     done
 
-    # Set $SSL_CERT_FILE so that Nixpkgs applications like curl work.
+    # Set $NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE so that Nixpkgs applications like curl work.
     if [ -e /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt ]; then # NixOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Arch
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
     elif [ -e /etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem ]; then # openSUSE Tumbleweed
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem
     elif [ -e /etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt ]; then # Old NixOS
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
     elif [ -e /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt ]; then # Fedora, CentOS
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
     elif [ -e "$NIX_LINK/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt" ]; then # fall back to cacert in Nix profile
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_LINK/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_LINK/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
     elif [ -e "$NIX_LINK/etc/ca-bundle.crt" ]; then # old cacert in Nix profile
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_LINK/etc/ca-bundle.crt"
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_LINK/etc/ca-bundle.crt"
     fi
 
     if [ -n ${MANPATH} ]; then
diff --git a/src/libstore/download.cc b/src/libstore/download.cc
index b228cd0b4..337ebc9bf 100644
--- a/src/libstore/download.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/download.cc
@@ -210,7 +210,8 @@ struct CurlDownloader : public Downloader
                 curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_NOBODY, 1);
 
             if (request.verifyTLS)
-                curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_CAINFO, getEnv("SSL_CERT_FILE", "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt").c_str());
+                curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_CAINFO,
+                    getEnv("NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE", getEnv("SSL_CERT_FILE", "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt")).c_str());
             else {
                 curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);
                 curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);