diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index 5f0b5279..8a73c5d5 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@
 # cache will be updated. By default this timeout is set to 1 day.
 lxc_cache_timeout: 86400
 
+# Environment to use when building LXC caches
+# You can set http_proxy environment variables here for example
+# if you would like to proxy all image downloads
+lxc_cache_environment: {}
+
 # Set the package install state for distribution and pip packages
 # Options are 'present' and 'latest'
 lxc_hosts_package_state: "latest"
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/lxc_cache_environment-f14701a7f8f4b8ca.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/lxc_cache_environment-f14701a7f8f4b8ca.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f331d00b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/lxc_cache_environment-f14701a7f8f4b8ca.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+features:
+  - The variable ``lxc_cache_environment`` has been added. This dictionary
+    can be overridden by deployers to set HTTP proxy environment variables that
+    will be applied to all lxc container download tasks.
diff --git a/tasks/lxc_cache.yml b/tasks/lxc_cache.yml
index 04b1e4c9..d11d510a 100644
--- a/tasks/lxc_cache.yml
+++ b/tasks/lxc_cache.yml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
   delay: 10
   until: cache_download_primary | success
   failed_when: false
+  environment: "{{ lxc_cache_environment }}"
   tags:
     - lxc-cache
     - lxc-cache-download
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@
   retries: 3
   delay: 10
   until: cache_download_secondary | success
+  environment: "{{ lxc_cache_environment }}"
   tags:
     - lxc-cache
     - lxc-cache-download
diff --git a/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml b/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
index fd72ff96..a5352185 100644
--- a/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
+++ b/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
   retries: 3
   delay: 10
   until: cache_download|success
+  environment: "{{ lxc_cache_environment }}"
   when:
     - lxc_container_backing_store is defined
     - lxc_container_backing_store == 'overlayfs'
@@ -60,6 +61,7 @@
   retries: 3
   delay: 10
   until: cache_download|success
+  environment: "{{ lxc_cache_environment }}"
   when:
     - lxc_container_backing_store is defined
     - lxc_container_backing_store == 'lvm'