diff --git a/elements/debootstrap/README.rst b/elements/debootstrap/README.rst
index da244dda..9e61306e 100644
--- a/elements/debootstrap/README.rst
+++ b/elements/debootstrap/README.rst
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ filesystem. By default this is 0 (disabled) and any other value enables this.
 If run in offline mode then the most recently cached rootfs is used instead of
 being built.
 
+The `DIB_DEBOOTSTRAP_DEFAULT_LOCALE` environment variable may be used
+to configure the default locale of the base image. It defaults to
+C.UTF-8.
+
 -------------------
 Note on ARM systems
 -------------------
diff --git a/elements/debootstrap/environment.d/10-debootstrap-default-locale b/elements/debootstrap/environment.d/10-debootstrap-default-locale
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dabfd402
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/debootstrap/environment.d/10-debootstrap-default-locale
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export DIB_DEBOOTSTRAP_DEFAULT_LOCALE=${DIB_DEBOOTSTRAP_DEFAULT_LOCALE:-C.UTF-8}
diff --git a/elements/debootstrap/install.d/12-debian-locale-gen b/elements/debootstrap/install.d/12-debian-locale-gen
index 24773e89..c48711da 100755
--- a/elements/debootstrap/install.d/12-debian-locale-gen
+++ b/elements/debootstrap/install.d/12-debian-locale-gen
@@ -30,3 +30,9 @@ locales locales/default_environment_locale select en_US.UTF-8
 EOF
 
 dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive locales
+
+# set on configuration
+cat > /etc/default/locale <<EOF
+LANG=$DIB_DEBOOTSTRAP_DEFAULT_LOCALE
+LC_ALL=$DIB_DEBOOTSTRAP_DEFAULT_LOCALE
+EOF