diff --git a/docs/envvars.rst b/docs/envvars.rst
index e47befa388d..7782197e59f 100644
--- a/docs/envvars.rst
+++ b/docs/envvars.rst
@@ -351,6 +351,11 @@ i945/i965 driver environment variables (non-Gallium)
    The success of assembly override would be signified by "Successfully
    overrode shader with sha1 <sha1>" in stderr replacing the original
    assembly.
+``INTEL_BLACKHOLE_DEFAULT``
+   if set to 1, true or yes, then the OpenGL implementation will
+   default ``GL_BLACKHOLE_RENDER_INTEL`` to true, thus disabling any
+   rendering.
+
 
 Radeon driver environment variables (radeon, r200, and r300g)
 -------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/mesa/main/context.c b/src/mesa/main/context.c
index 182f662d4cf..c1006a4a75b 100644
--- a/src/mesa/main/context.c
+++ b/src/mesa/main/context.c
@@ -885,6 +885,7 @@ init_attrib_groups(struct gl_context *ctx)
    ctx->ErrorValue = GL_NO_ERROR;
    ctx->ShareGroupReset = false;
    ctx->varying_vp_inputs = VERT_BIT_ALL;
+   ctx->IntelBlackholeRender = env_var_as_boolean("INTEL_BLACKHOLE_DEFAULT", false);
 
    return GL_TRUE;
 }