diff --git a/docs/rolereference.rst b/docs/rolereference.rst
index 6fb9da20f2964a33a342d6ae54d52b268029e5cb..b97e94c5798904a1f92822768431580540e240cd 100644
--- a/docs/rolereference.rst
+++ b/docs/rolereference.rst
@@ -1460,6 +1460,11 @@ Parameters
   be served with ``Strict-Transport-Security`` header with value of
   ``max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains``.
 
+**environment_variables** (dict, optional, ``{}``)
+  Specify additional environment variables that should be set for running the
+  service. Environment variables will be set in both the systemd service and for
+  the application's administrator user (when logged in as one).
+
 **fqdn** (string, mandatory)
   Fully-qualified domain name where the website is reachable. This value is used
   for calculating the user/group name for dedicated website user, as well as
@@ -1536,6 +1541,8 @@ running a bare Django project):
       virtualenv_packages:
         - django
       wsgi_application: django_example_com.wsgi:application
+      environment_variables:
+        DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE: "django_example_com.settings.production"
       https_tls_key: "{{ lookup('file', inventory_dir + '/tls/wsgi.example.com_https.key') }}"
       https_tls_certificate: "{{ lookup('file', inventory_dir + '/tls/wsgi.example.com_https.pem') }}"
       futures_version: 3.0.5
diff --git a/docs/usage.rst b/docs/usage.rst
index 61538833808e24e68334d3e4b71b6733320b701d..e6de992bc1a27046e637c2112e8735a6883b0ce9 100644
--- a/docs/usage.rst
+++ b/docs/usage.rst
@@ -1472,6 +1472,9 @@ on the safe side:
   will be automatically activated for you.
 * WSGI applications are executed via *Gunicorn*. The WSGI server listens on a
   Unix socket, making the socket accessible by *Nginx*.
+* If you ever need to set some environment variables, this can easily be done
+  via the ``environment_variables`` role parameter. This particular example does
+  not set any, though.
 * Static content is served directly by *Nginx*.
 * Each web application gets distinct sub-directory under ``/var/www``, named
   after the FQDN. All sub-directories created under there are created with
diff --git a/roles/wsgi_website/defaults/main.yml b/roles/wsgi_website/defaults/main.yml
index 892275b9e5cb3d40ebed15954a0b8188604ebe25..741fb6bc4983c35763b9f779d545dee8e98c2a78 100644
--- a/roles/wsgi_website/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/wsgi_website/defaults/main.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ rewrites: []
 static_locations: []
 use_paste: False
 virtualenv_packages: []
+environment_variables: {}
 admin: "web-{{ fqdn | replace('.', '_') }}"
 https_tls_certificate: "{{ lookup('file', tls_certificate_dir + '/' + fqdn + '_https.pem') }}"
 https_tls_key: "{{ lookup('file', tls_private_key_dir + '/' + fqdn + '_https.key') }}"
diff --git a/roles/wsgi_website/tasks/main.yml b/roles/wsgi_website/tasks/main.yml
index 0badd1a7214353d1d702cd577495d72e39258322..8d562b1f7df93515df3073d0bb8fccb5b2efd7f3 100644
--- a/roles/wsgi_website/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/wsgi_website/tasks/main.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@
   copy: src="profile_virtualenv.sh" dest="{{ home }}/.profile.d/virtualenv.sh"
         owner="root" group="{{ user }}" mode="640"
 
+- name: Deploy profile configuration file for setting environment variables
+  template: src="environment.sh.j2" dest="{{ home }}/.profile.d/environment.sh"
+            owner="root" group="{{ user }}" mode=640
+
 - name: Create WSGI website user
   user: name="{{ user }}" uid="{{ uid | default(omit) }}" group="{{ user }}" comment="umask=0007"
         system=yes createhome=no state=present
diff --git a/roles/wsgi_website/templates/environment.sh.j2 b/roles/wsgi_website/templates/environment.sh.j2
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f5af0acd1fa8bef138717ff8bf924ca531707e88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/wsgi_website/templates/environment.sh.j2
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{% for var, val in environment_variables.iteritems() %}
+export {{ var }}='{{ val }}'
+{% endfor %}
diff --git a/roles/wsgi_website/templates/systemd_wsgi_website.service.j2 b/roles/wsgi_website/templates/systemd_wsgi_website.service.j2
index fdd2f72148619d750e6f96285078a5366ad9b958..0169468a301f35b5b58a9e572f96992302c12116 100644
--- a/roles/wsgi_website/templates/systemd_wsgi_website.service.j2
+++ b/roles/wsgi_website/templates/systemd_wsgi_website.service.j2
@@ -9,10 +9,14 @@ Group={{ user }}
 WorkingDirectory={{ home }}/code
 ExecStart={{ home }}/virtualenv/bin/gunicorn --bind unix:/run/wsgi/{{ fqdn }}.sock {% if use_paste %}--paste {{home}}/code/{{ wsgi_application }}{% else %}{{ wsgi_application }}{% endif %}
 
+{% for var, val in environment_variables.iteritems() %}
+Environment="{{ var }}={{ val }}"
+{% endfor %}
+
 ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
 ExecStop=/bin/kill -s TERM $MAINPID
 PrivateTmp=true
 UMask=0007
 
 [Install]
-WantedBy=multi-user.target
\ No newline at end of file
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/testsite/playbooks/roles/wsgihello/files/hello.wsgi b/testsite/playbooks/roles/wsgihello/files/hello.wsgi
index 307a0f246d6a171099bc08fee7c8cacdcd34692e..79b68a048e89f7588ae16d5e2ca932f66dd20f55 100644
--- a/testsite/playbooks/roles/wsgihello/files/hello.wsgi
+++ b/testsite/playbooks/roles/wsgihello/files/hello.wsgi
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
+import os
+
 def application(environ, start_response):
     status = '200 OK'
-    output = 'Hello, world one!'
+    output = 'Hello, world one! I am website %s' % os.environ.get("WEBSITE_NAME", "that nobody set a name for :(")
 
     response_headers = [('Content-type', 'text/plain'),
                         ('Content-Length', str(len(output)))]
diff --git a/testsite/playbooks/roles/wsgihello/meta/main.yml b/testsite/playbooks/roles/wsgihello/meta/main.yml
index 9e894e1c3a5e7625222113ea148e46687313d24f..e583920bb9a937c621a41e20acab96ab70d1f054 100644
--- a/testsite/playbooks/roles/wsgihello/meta/main.yml
+++ b/testsite/playbooks/roles/wsgihello/meta/main.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ dependencies:
       - /static/
     https_tls_key: "{{ lookup('file', inventory_dir + '/tls/wsgi.' + testsite_domain + '_https.key') }}"
     https_tls_certificate: "{{ lookup('file', inventory_dir + '/tls/wsgi.' + testsite_domain + '_https.pem') }}"
+    environment_variables:
+      WEBSITE_NAME: "Majic Ansible Roles Test Site"
   - role: database
     db_name: wsgi_{{ testsite_domain_underscores }}
     db_password: wsgi_{{ testsite_domain_underscores }}
\ No newline at end of file