diff --git a/src/roff/troff/input.cpp b/src/roff/troff/input.cpp
index a4360280..f96a1bc1 100644
--- a/src/roff/troff/input.cpp
+++ b/src/roff/troff/input.cpp
@@ -8168,8 +8168,13 @@ static void init_registers()
   time_t
 #endif /* not LONG_FOR_TIME_T */
     t = current_time();
-  // Use struct here to work around misfeature in old versions of g++.
-  struct tm *tt = localtime(&t);
+  char *use_utc = getenv("GROFF_USE_UTC");
+  struct tm *tt = 0;
+  if (use_utc)
+    tt = gmtime(&t);
+  else
+    tt = localtime(&t);
+
   set_number_reg("seconds", int(tt->tm_sec));
   set_number_reg("minutes", int(tt->tm_min));
   set_number_reg("hours", int(tt->tm_hour));