diff --git a/cmd/cc-backend/main.go b/cmd/cc-backend/main.go
index 62a9b9b..4b6d7f9 100644
--- a/cmd/cc-backend/main.go
+++ b/cmd/cc-backend/main.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/pkg/runtimeEnv"
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/pkg/schema"
 	"github.com/google/gops/agent"
+	"github.com/joho/godotenv"
 
 	_ "github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
 	_ "github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3"
@@ -76,7 +77,8 @@ func main() {
 		}
 	}
 
-	if err := runtimeEnv.LoadEnv("./.env"); err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+	err := godotenv.Load()
+	if err != nil {
 		log.Abortf("Could not parse existing .env file at location './.env'. Application startup failed, exited.\nError: %s\n", err.Error())
 	}
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 47e3497..98d1cab 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.1.1 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru/v2 v2.0.7 // indirect
 	github.com/influxdata/line-protocol v0.0.0-20210922203350-b1ad95c89adf // indirect
+	github.com/joho/godotenv v1.5.1 // indirect
 	github.com/jonboulle/clockwork v0.5.0 // indirect
 	github.com/josharian/intern v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/jpillora/backoff v1.0.0 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index e1725ed..a76e112 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -137,6 +137,8 @@ github.com/jcmturner/rpc/v2 v2.0.3 h1:7FXXj8Ti1IaVFpSAziCZWNzbNuZmnvw/i6CqLNdWfZ
 github.com/jcmturner/rpc/v2 v2.0.3/go.mod h1:VUJYCIDm3PVOEHw8sgt091/20OJjskO/YJki3ELg/Hc=
 github.com/jmoiron/sqlx v1.4.0 h1:1PLqN7S1UYp5t4SrVVnt4nUVNemrDAtxlulVe+Qgm3o=
 github.com/jmoiron/sqlx v1.4.0/go.mod h1:ZrZ7UsYB/weZdl2Bxg6jCRO9c3YHl8r3ahlKmRT4JLY=
+github.com/joho/godotenv v1.5.1 h1:7eLL/+HRGLY0ldzfGMeQkb7vMd0as4CfYvUVzLqw0N0=
+github.com/joho/godotenv v1.5.1/go.mod h1:f4LDr5Voq0i2e/R5DDNOoa2zzDfwtkZa6DnEwAbqwq4=
 github.com/jonboulle/clockwork v0.5.0 h1:Hyh9A8u51kptdkR+cqRpT1EebBwTn1oK9YfGYbdFz6I=
 github.com/jonboulle/clockwork v0.5.0/go.mod h1:3mZlmanh0g2NDKO5TWZVJAfofYk64M7XN3SzBPjZF60=
 github.com/josharian/intern v1.0.0 h1:vlS4z54oSdjm0bgjRigI+G1HpF+tI+9rE5LLzOg8HmY=
diff --git a/pkg/runtimeEnv/setup.go b/pkg/runtimeEnv/setup.go
index 4cacb18..cb77b26 100644
--- a/pkg/runtimeEnv/setup.go
+++ b/pkg/runtimeEnv/setup.go
@@ -5,85 +5,16 @@
 package runtimeEnv
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"os/user"
 	"strconv"
-	"strings"
 	"syscall"
 
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/pkg/log"
 )
 
-// Very simple and limited .env file reader.
-// All variable definitions found are directly
-// added to the processes environment.
-func LoadEnv(file string) error {
-	f, err := os.Open(file)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Error("Error while opening .env file")
-		return err
-	}
-
-	defer f.Close()
-	s := bufio.NewScanner(bufio.NewReader(f))
-	for s.Scan() {
-		line := s.Text()
-		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "#") || len(line) == 0 {
-			continue
-		}
-
-		if strings.Contains(line, "#") {
-			return errors.New("'#' are only supported at the start of a line")
-		}
-
-		line = strings.TrimPrefix(line, "export ")
-		parts := strings.SplitN(line, "=", 2)
-		if len(parts) != 2 {
-			return fmt.Errorf("RUNTIME/SETUP > unsupported line: %#v", line)
-		}
-
-		key := strings.TrimSpace(parts[0])
-		val := strings.TrimSpace(parts[1])
-		if strings.HasPrefix(val, "\"") {
-			if !strings.HasSuffix(val, "\"") {
-				return fmt.Errorf("RUNTIME/SETUP > unsupported line: %#v", line)
-			}
-
-			runes := []rune(val[1 : len(val)-1])
-			sb := strings.Builder{}
-			for i := 0; i < len(runes); i++ {
-				if runes[i] == '\\' {
-					i++
-					switch runes[i] {
-					case 'n':
-						sb.WriteRune('\n')
-					case 'r':
-						sb.WriteRune('\r')
-					case 't':
-						sb.WriteRune('\t')
-					case '"':
-						sb.WriteRune('"')
-					default:
-						return fmt.Errorf("RUNTIME/SETUP > unsupported escape sequence in quoted string: backslash %#v", runes[i])
-					}
-					continue
-				}
-				sb.WriteRune(runes[i])
-			}
-
-			val = sb.String()
-		}
-
-		os.Setenv(key, val)
-	}
-
-	return s.Err()
-}
-
 // Changes the processes user and group to that
 // specified in the config.json. The go runtime
 // takes care of all threads (and not only the calling one)