diff --git a/bob/devtools/scripts/bdt.py b/bob/devtools/scripts/bdt.py
index 14784527093538b08084a89209eecd56c6662069..92d3af40f2de8e752e5a5ed6982cec9948347255 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/scripts/bdt.py
+++ b/bob/devtools/scripts/bdt.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import click
 from click_plugins import with_plugins
 
 from ..log import setup
+from ..bootstrap import set_environment
 logger = setup('bob')
 
 
@@ -48,6 +49,11 @@ def raise_on_error(view_func):
     return wraps(view_func)(_decorator)
 
 
+# must set LANG and LC_ALL before using click
+set_environment('LANG', 'en_US.UTF-8', os.environ, verbose=False)
+set_environment('LC_ALL', os.environ['LANG'], os.environ, verbose=False)
+
+
 @with_plugins(pkg_resources.iter_entry_points('bdt.cli'))
 @click.group(cls=AliasedGroup,
              context_settings=dict(help_option_names=['-?', '-h', '--help']))
@@ -56,7 +62,6 @@ def main():
 
     #sets up basic environment variables required everywhere
     from ..constants import CACERT
-    from ..bootstrap import set_environment
 
     set_environment('SSL_CERT_FILE', CACERT, os.environ)
     set_environment('REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE', CACERT, os.environ)
diff --git a/bob/devtools/scripts/build.py b/bob/devtools/scripts/build.py
index 6e7f2038efcdc1f09e740304f9dd769bb0e9d5bc..79de7662e1ed192bbc65fd84d675391086d268d2 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/scripts/build.py
+++ b/bob/devtools/scripts/build.py
@@ -108,8 +108,6 @@ def build(recipe_dir, python, condarc, config, no_test, append_file,
 
   conda_config = make_conda_config(config, python, append_file, condarc_options)
 
-  set_environment('LANG', 'en_US.UTF-8', verbose=True)
-  set_environment('LC_ALL', os.environ['LANG'], verbose=True)
   set_environment('MATPLOTLIBRC', MATPLOTLIB_RCDIR, verbose=True)
 
   # setup BOB_DOCUMENTATION_SERVER environment variable (used for bob.extension
diff --git a/bob/devtools/scripts/ci.py b/bob/devtools/scripts/ci.py
index 7d35fc7eab9a463038135ad41b7d11b7bcb0faf9..c85a0baf3baca6a3d61df154e5858db38f67e417 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/scripts/ci.py
+++ b/bob/devtools/scripts/ci.py
@@ -246,8 +246,6 @@ def build(dry_run):
   pyver = os.environ['PYTHON_VERSION']
   logger.info('os.environ["%s"] = %s', 'PYTHON_VERSION', pyver)
 
-  set_environment('LANG', 'en_US.UTF-8', os.environ, verbose=True)
-  set_environment('LC_ALL', os.environ['LANG'], os.environ, verbose=True)
   set_environment('MATPLOTLIBRC', MATPLOTLIB_RCDIR, verbose=True)
 
   # get information about the version of the package being built
diff --git a/bob/devtools/scripts/create.py b/bob/devtools/scripts/create.py
index 57abe640fed722f6a2e84a1f27e8ae02b67c5199..122e7ea67eb8e087bd0f2217b21659604d16feac 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/scripts/create.py
+++ b/bob/devtools/scripts/create.py
@@ -122,8 +122,6 @@ def create(name, recipe_dir, python, overwrite, condarc, use_local, config,
 
   # set some environment variables before continuing
   set_environment('DOCSERVER', server, os.environ)
-  set_environment('LANG', 'en_US.UTF-8', os.environ)
-  set_environment('LC_ALL', os.environ['LANG'], os.environ)
 
   if condarc is not None:
     logger.info('Loading CONDARC file from %s...', condarc)