diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 45daae44..04a990e9 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 
 * Removed the `cate upd` CLI command.
 
+* Added support of environment variable `CATE_DATA_PATH` to set path where to
+  find basic cate configuration files.
+
 ## Version 3.1.6
 
 * Fixed docker image
diff --git a/cate/conf/defaults.py b/cate/conf/defaults.py
index 1f52d223..707e38d9 100644
--- a/cate/conf/defaults.py
+++ b/cate/conf/defaults.py
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@
 CATE_LOCAL_DIR_NAME = 'cate-local'
 
 DEFAULT_DATA_DIR_NAME = '.cate'
-DEFAULT_DATA_PATH = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), DEFAULT_DATA_DIR_NAME)
+DEFAULT_DATA_PATH = os.environ.get('CATE_DATA_PATH',
+    os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), DEFAULT_DATA_DIR_NAME))
 DEFAULT_VERSION_DATA_PATH = os.path.join(DEFAULT_DATA_PATH, __version__)
 
 GLOBAL_CONF_FILE = os.path.join(DEFAULT_DATA_PATH, 'conf.py')