diff --git a/src/Microsoft.DotNet.ProjectModel/EnvironmentNames.cs b/src/Microsoft.DotNet.ProjectModel/EnvironmentNames.cs
index 695eee323..803d4ff4a 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.DotNet.ProjectModel/EnvironmentNames.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.DotNet.ProjectModel/EnvironmentNames.cs
@@ -6,5 +6,6 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.ProjectModel
     public class EnvironmentNames
     {
         public static readonly string PackagesCache = "NUGET_PACKAGES";
+        public static readonly string StrongNameKeyFile = "DOTNET_BUILD_STRONG_NAME_KEYFILE";
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Compiler/Program.cs b/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Compiler/Program.cs
index 2f0659336..2012223c8 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Compiler/Program.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Compiler/Program.cs
@@ -293,7 +293,14 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Compiler
 
             var compilationOptions = context.ProjectFile.GetCompilerOptions(context.TargetFramework, configuration);
 
-            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(compilationOptions.KeyFile))
+            // Path to strong naming key in environment variable overrides path in project.json
+            var environmentKeyFile = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(EnvironmentNames.StrongNameKeyFile);
+
+            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(environmentKeyFile))
+            {
+                compilationOptions.KeyFile = environmentKeyFile;
+            }
+            else  if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(compilationOptions.KeyFile))
             {
                 // Resolve full path to key file
                 compilationOptions.KeyFile = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(context.ProjectFile.ProjectDirectory, compilationOptions.KeyFile));