diff --git a/cabal2nix/CHANGELOG.md b/cabal2nix/CHANGELOG.md
index 4a1755a54..72c15c904 100644
--- a/cabal2nix/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/cabal2nix/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # Revision History for cabal2nix
 
+## Unreleased
+
+* `hackage2nix` now defaults internally to a utf-8 locale ignoring enviroment
+  variables.
+
 ## 2.19.1
 
 **Warning**: This version of `cabal2nix` generates Nix expressions that
diff --git a/cabal2nix/hackage2nix/Main.hs b/cabal2nix/hackage2nix/Main.hs
index 1916b1a5c..5c0b7f643 100644
--- a/cabal2nix/hackage2nix/Main.hs
+++ b/cabal2nix/hackage2nix/Main.hs
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import Text.PrettyPrint.HughesPJClass hiding ( (<>) )
 import Data.List.NonEmpty (NonEmpty)
 import Data.Semigroup (sconcat)
 import Options.Applicative.NonEmpty (some1)
+import GHC.IO.Encoding (setLocaleEncoding)
 
 type PackageSet = Map PackageName Version
 type PackageMultiSet = Map PackageName (Set Version)
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ data CLI = CLI
 
 main :: IO ()
 main = do
+  setLocaleEncoding utf8
   let cliOptions :: Parser CLI
       cliOptions = CLI
         <$> strOption (long "hackage" <> help "path to Hackage git repository" <> value "hackage" <> showDefaultWith id <> metavar "PATH")