diff --git a/config/vilesci.config-default.inc.php b/config/vilesci.config-default.inc.php
index 049109471..7cfff8938 100644
--- a/config/vilesci.config-default.inc.php
+++ b/config/vilesci.config-default.inc.php
@@ -197,4 +197,7 @@ define('DVB_PORTAL', 'https://stubei-p.portal.at');
 define('DVB_USERNAME','username');
 // Passwort
 define('DVB_PASSWORD','passwort');
+
+define('CI_ENVIRONMENT', 'development'); // Code igniter environment variable
+
 ?>
diff --git a/index.ci.php b/index.ci.php
index 5514d9450..ad946373a 100644
--- a/index.ci.php
+++ b/index.ci.php
@@ -55,6 +55,14 @@
  *
  */
 
+// Loads FHC config files
+require_once 'config/global.config.inc.php';
+require_once 'config/vilesci.config.inc.php';
+
+// Check if the CI_ENVIRONMENT constants is set and eventually use it to set the CI_ENV environment variable
+if (defined('CI_ENVIRONMENT')) $_SERVER['CI_ENV'] = CI_ENVIRONMENT;
+
+// If the CI_ENV environment variable is not set then use "development" as default
 define('ENVIRONMENT', isset($_SERVER['CI_ENV']) ? $_SERVER['CI_ENV'] : 'development');
 
 /*
@@ -65,7 +73,6 @@ define('ENVIRONMENT', isset($_SERVER['CI_ENV']) ? $_SERVER['CI_ENV'] : 'developm
  * Different environments will require different levels of error reporting.
  * By default development will show errors but testing and live will hide them.
  */
-
 switch (ENVIRONMENT)
 {
 	case 'development':
@@ -299,10 +306,6 @@ switch (ENVIRONMENT)
  *
  */
 
-// First load the FHC-Config-Files ...
-require_once 'config/global.config.inc.php';
-require_once 'config/vilesci.config.inc.php';
-
 // ... and the vendor autoload
 include_once 'vendor/autoload.php';