diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1400f0556..82a44f1c1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Added a `--color` option which allows explicitly enabling/disabling
 colour output.
 
 Added a `--background` option which controls whether difftastic uses
-bright or dark colours.
+bright or dark colours. This can also be controlled by `DFT_BACKGROUND`.
 
 ## 0.17 (released 25 January 2022)
 
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 08eaa9f3d..e929cd1c7 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -149,9 +149,8 @@ fn app() -> clap::App<'static> {
         )
         .arg(
             Arg::new("background").long("background")
-                .default_value("dark")
                 .possible_values(["dark", "light"])
-                .help("Set the background color. Difftastic will prefer brighter colours on dark backgrounds.")
+                .help("Set the background color. Overrides $DFT_BACKGROUND if present. Difftastic will prefer brighter colours on dark backgrounds.")
         )
         .arg(
             Arg::new("paths")
@@ -245,7 +244,15 @@ fn parse_args() -> Mode {
             BackgroundColor::Dark
         }
     } else {
-        BackgroundColor::Dark
+        if let Ok(background) = env::var("DFT_BACKGROUND") {
+            if background == "light" {
+                BackgroundColor::Light
+            } else {
+                BackgroundColor::Dark
+            }
+        } else {
+            BackgroundColor::Dark
+        }
     };
 
     Mode::Diff {