diff --git a/templates/init/debian/elasticsearch.j2 b/templates/init/debian/elasticsearch.j2
index 3ab782b..3aeb992 100755
--- a/templates/init/debian/elasticsearch.j2
+++ b/templates/init/debian/elasticsearch.j2
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ export ES_JAVA_OPTS
 export JAVA_HOME
 export ES_INCLUDE
 export ES_JVM_OPTIONS
+export ES_PATH_CONF
 
 # export unsupported variables so bin/elasticsearch can reject them and inform the user these are unsupported
 if test -n "$ES_MIN_MEM"; then export ES_MIN_MEM; fi