diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
index 7e42a115..12799e34 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ jobs:
         RELEASE:
           - ${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/') }}
     env:
-      BACKEND: ${{ matrix.BACKEND }}
+      NANO_BACKEND: ${{ matrix.BACKEND }}
       BUILD_TYPE: ${{ matrix.RELEASE && 'RelWithDebInfo' || 'Debug' }}
       TEST_USE_ROCKSDB: ${{ matrix.BACKEND == 'rocksdb' && '1' || '0' }}
       DEADLINE_SCALE_FACTOR: ${{ matrix.BACKEND == 'rocksdb' && '2' || '1' }}
diff --git a/nano/node/nodeconfig.cpp b/nano/node/nodeconfig.cpp
index 8ad44af1..6cf6479e 100644
--- a/nano/node/nodeconfig.cpp
+++ b/nano/node/nodeconfig.cpp
@@ -701,18 +701,18 @@ nano::database_backend nano::node_config::get_config_backend (nano::tomlconfig &
 
 nano::database_backend nano::node_config::get_default_backend ()
 {
-	auto backend_str = nano::env::get<std::string> ("BACKEND");
+	auto backend_str = nano::env::get<std::string> ("NANO_BACKEND");
 
 	if (backend_str.has_value ())
 	{
 		auto backend = deserialize_database_backend (backend_str.value ());
 		if (backend.has_value ())
 		{
-			std::cerr << "Database backend overridden by BACKEND environment variable: " << *backend_str << std::endl;
+			std::cerr << "Database backend overridden by NANO_BACKEND environment variable: " << *backend_str << std::endl;
 			return backend.value ();
 		}
 
-		std::cerr << "Unknown database backend in BACKEND environment variable: " << *backend_str << std::endl;
+		std::cerr << "Unknown database backend in NANO_BACKEND environment variable: " << *backend_str << std::endl;
 	}
 	return database_backend::lmdb;
 }