diff --git a/src/lib/apexPmd.ts b/src/lib/apexPmd.ts
index 1beceb1..af23e90 100644
--- a/src/lib/apexPmd.ts
+++ b/src/lib/apexPmd.ts
@@ -150,6 +150,9 @@ export class ApexPmd {
       }
     }
 
+    // TODO: determine the nearest sfdx-project.json file beginning from targetPath up to workspaceRootPath
+    env["PMD_APEX_ROOT_DIRECTORY"] = workspaceRootPath;
+
     const cmd = `"${path.join(pmdBinPath, 'bin', 'pmd')}" check ${pmdKeys}`;
 
     this.outputChannel.appendLine(`node: ${process.version}`);
diff --git a/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/custom_ruleset.xml b/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/custom_ruleset.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7236d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/custom_ruleset.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<ruleset xmlns="http://pmd.sourceforge.net/ruleset/2.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+   name="Test ruleset" xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sourceforge.net/ruleset/2.0.0 http://pmd.sourceforge.net/ruleset_2_0_0.xsd">
+   <description>Test ruleset</description>
+
+      <rule ref="category/apex/design.xml/UnusedMethod" />
+
+</ruleset>
diff --git a/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/sfdx-project.json b/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/sfdx-project.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dba67ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/sfdx-project.json
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+  "packageDirectories": [
+    {
+      "path": "src",
+      "default": true
+    }
+  ],
+  "namespace": "foo_ns"
+}
diff --git a/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/src/Foo.cls b/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/src/Foo.cls
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b1ca13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/src/Foo.cls
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+public class Foo {
+    // this method is needed, otherwise the whole class is considered as unused, as it would contain
+    // then only one unused method.
+    private void other() {}
+
+    public void unusedMethod() {
+        other();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/src/Foo.cls-meta.xml b/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/src/Foo.cls-meta.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..541584f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/assets/project3_unusedmethod/src/Foo.cls-meta.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<ApexClass xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
+    <apiVersion>50.0</apiVersion>
+    <status>Active</status>
+</ApexClass>
diff --git a/test/suite/extension.test.ts b/test/suite/extension.test.ts
index 1f933e9..54295a5 100644
--- a/test/suite/extension.test.ts
+++ b/test/suite/extension.test.ts
@@ -214,4 +214,38 @@ suite('Extension Tests', () => {
         done(e);
       });
   });
+
+  test('UnusedMethod with Apex Link and PMD_APEX_ROOT_DIRECTORY', function (done) {
+    this.timeout(100000);
+
+    const workspaceRootPath = path.join(TEST_ASSETS_PATH, 'project3_unusedmethod');
+    const rulesetPath = path.join(workspaceRootPath, 'custom_ruleset.xml');
+    const apexClassFile = path.join(workspaceRootPath, 'src', 'Foo.cls');
+
+    const collection = vscode.languages.createDiagnosticCollection('apex-pmd-test');
+
+    const config = new Config();
+    config.pmdBinPath = PMD_PATH;
+    config.rulesets = [rulesetPath];
+    config.priorityErrorThreshold = 3;
+    config.priorityWarnThreshold = 1;
+    config.workspaceRootPath = workspaceRootPath;
+    config.additionalClassPaths = [];
+    config.commandBufferSize = 64000000;
+
+    const pmd = new ApexPmd(outputChannel, config);
+
+    const testApexUri = vscode.Uri.file(apexClassFile);
+    pmd
+      .run(apexClassFile, collection)
+      .then(() => {
+        const errs = collection.get(testApexUri);
+        assert.strictEqual(errs.length, 1);
+        assert.strictEqual(errs[0].message, "Unused methods make understanding code harder (rule: Design-UnusedMethod)");
+        done();
+      })
+      .catch((e) => {
+        done(e);
+      });
+  });
 });