diff --git a/core/foundation/inc/ROOT/RLogger.hxx b/core/foundation/inc/ROOT/RLogger.hxx
index dd6e020688619..8620bdd4c9108 100644
--- a/core/foundation/inc/ROOT/RLogger.hxx
+++ b/core/foundation/inc/ROOT/RLogger.hxx
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 #include <atomic>
 #include <list>
+#include <map>
 #include <memory>
 #include <mutex>
 #include <sstream>
@@ -99,7 +100,8 @@ class RLogChannel : public RLogDiagCount {
    std::string fName;
 
    /// Verbosity of this channel. By default, use the global verbosity.
-   ELogLevel fVerbosity = ELogLevel::kUnset;
+   mutable ELogLevel fVerbosity = ELogLevel::kUnset;
+   mutable bool fVerbosityInitialized{false};
 
 public:
    /// Construct an anonymous channel.
@@ -114,6 +116,7 @@ public:
    ELogLevel SetVerbosity(ELogLevel verbosity)
    {
       std::swap(fVerbosity, verbosity);
+      fVerbosityInitialized = true;
       return verbosity;
    }
    ELogLevel GetVerbosity() const { return fVerbosity; }
@@ -142,6 +145,8 @@ public:
 
    static RLogManager &Get();
 
+   ELogLevel GetConfiguredVerbosity(const std::string &name) const;
+
    /// Add a RLogHandler in the front - to be called before all others.
    void PushFront(std::unique_ptr<RLogHandler> handler) { fHandlers.emplace_front(std::move(handler)); }
 
@@ -294,6 +299,7 @@ public:
 };
 
 namespace Internal {
+void ParseRootLogStr(const std::string& env, std::map<std::string, ELogLevel>& out);
 
 inline RLogChannel &GetChannelOrManager()
 {
@@ -308,6 +314,12 @@ inline RLogChannel &GetChannelOrManager(RLogChannel &channel)
 
 inline ELogLevel RLogChannel::GetEffectiveVerbosity(const RLogManager &mgr) const
 {
+   if (!fVerbosityInitialized) {
+      fVerbosityInitialized = true;
+      ELogLevel cfg = mgr.GetConfiguredVerbosity(fName);
+      if (cfg != ELogLevel::kUnset)
+         fVerbosity = cfg;
+   }
    if (fVerbosity == ELogLevel::kUnset)
       return mgr.GetVerbosity();
    return fVerbosity;
diff --git a/core/foundation/src/RLogger.cxx b/core/foundation/src/RLogger.cxx
index 9c0c39ba2123c..3c53548c4f581 100644
--- a/core/foundation/src/RLogger.cxx
+++ b/core/foundation/src/RLogger.cxx
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@
 #include <array>
 #include <memory>
 #include <vector>
+#include <map>
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <string>
 
 // pin vtable
 ROOT::RLogHandler::~RLogHandler() {}
@@ -54,14 +57,84 @@ inline bool RLogHandlerDefault::Emit(const ROOT::RLogEntry &entry)
                           entry.fMessage.c_str());
    return true;
 }
+
+static ROOT::ELogLevel ParseVerbosityStr(const std::string &str) {
+   if (str == "Fatal") return ROOT::ELogLevel::kFatal;
+   if (str == "Error") return ROOT::ELogLevel::kError;
+   if (str == "Warning") return ROOT::ELogLevel::kWarning;
+   if (str == "Info") return ROOT::ELogLevel::kInfo;
+   if (str.compare(0, 5, "Debug") == 0) {
+      if (str.length() > 6 && str[5] == '(' && str.back() == ')') {
+         int level = std::stoi(str.substr(6, str.length() - 7));
+         return static_cast<ROOT::ELogLevel>(static_cast<int>(ROOT::ELogLevel::kDebug) + level);
+      }
+      return ROOT::ELogLevel::kDebug;
+   }
+   return ROOT::ELogLevel::kUnset;
+}
+
+namespace ROOT {
+namespace Internal {
+
+void ParseRootLogStr(const std::string& env, std::map<std::string, ROOT::ELogLevel>& sChannelVerbosities) {
+   std::string s = env;
+   size_t start = 0;
+   size_t end = s.find(',');
+   while (start != std::string::npos) {
+      std::string part = s.substr(start, end - start);
+      size_t eq = part.find('=');
+      if (eq != std::string::npos) {
+         sChannelVerbosities[part.substr(0, eq)] = ParseVerbosityStr(part.substr(eq + 1));
+      } else {
+         sChannelVerbosities[""] = ParseVerbosityStr(part);
+      }
+      if (end == std::string::npos) break;
+      start = end + 1;
+      end = s.find(',', start);
+   }
+}
+
+} // namespace Internal
+} // namespace ROOT
+
+static std::map<std::string, ROOT::ELogLevel>& GetChannelVerbosities() {
+   static std::map<std::string, ROOT::ELogLevel> sChannelVerbosities;
+   static bool parsed = false;
+   if (!parsed) {
+      parsed = true;
+      const char *env = std::getenv("ROOT_LOG");
+      if (env) {
+         ROOT::Internal::ParseRootLogStr(env, sChannelVerbosities);
+      }
+   }
+   return sChannelVerbosities;
+}
+
 } // unnamed namespace
 
 ROOT::RLogManager &ROOT::RLogManager::Get()
 {
    static RLogManager instance(std::make_unique<RLogHandlerDefault>());
+   static bool configured = false;
+   if (!configured) {
+      configured = true;
+      auto& cfg = GetChannelVerbosities();
+      if (cfg.count("")) {
+         instance.SetVerbosity(cfg[""]);
+      }
+   }
    return instance;
 }
 
+ROOT::ELogLevel ROOT::RLogManager::GetConfiguredVerbosity(const std::string &name) const
+{
+   auto& cfg = GetChannelVerbosities();
+   auto it = cfg.find(name);
+   if (it != cfg.end())
+      return it->second;
+   return ROOT::ELogLevel::kUnset;
+}
+
 std::unique_ptr<ROOT::RLogHandler> ROOT::RLogManager::Remove(RLogHandler *handler)
 {
    auto iter = std::find_if(fHandlers.begin(), fHandlers.end(), [&](const std::unique_ptr<RLogHandler> &handlerPtr) {
diff --git a/core/foundation/test/testLogger.cxx b/core/foundation/test/testLogger.cxx
index 0c9be1260d364..b5f91e65a0471 100644
--- a/core/foundation/test/testLogger.cxx
+++ b/core/foundation/test/testLogger.cxx
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 #include <memory>
 #include <vector>
+#include <map>
 
 struct TestLogger {
    class Handler : public ROOT::RLogHandler {
@@ -305,3 +306,14 @@ TEST(Logger, ROOTErrorHandlerDiagString)
 
    SetErrorHandler(prevErrorHandler);
 }
+
+TEST(Logger, EnvVarParsing)
+{
+   std::map<std::string, ROOT::ELogLevel> cfg;
+   ROOT::Internal::ParseRootLogStr("ROOT.InterpreterPerf=Debug(3),ROOT.RBrowser=Error,Info", cfg);
+   EXPECT_EQ(cfg.size(), 3);
+   EXPECT_EQ(cfg[""], ROOT::ELogLevel::kInfo);
+   EXPECT_EQ(cfg["ROOT.RBrowser"], ROOT::ELogLevel::kError);
+   EXPECT_EQ(cfg["ROOT.InterpreterPerf"], static_cast<ROOT::ELogLevel>(static_cast<int>(ROOT::ELogLevel::kDebug) + 3));
+}
+