diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index f2a8c963..977329b6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -472,6 +472,31 @@ jobs:
             DOCKER_METADATA_OUTPUT_ANNOTATIONS
             DOCKER_METADATA_OUTPUT_JSON
 
+  no-output-env:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      -
+        name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      -
+        name: Docker meta
+        id: meta
+        uses: ./
+        with:
+          images: |
+            ${{ env.DOCKER_IMAGE }}
+            ghcr.io/name/app
+          labels: |
+            maintainer=CrazyMax
+          annotations: |
+            maintainer=Foo
+          output-env: false
+      -
+        name: No output environment variables set
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          [[ "$(printenv | grep "^DOCKER_METADATA_OUTPUT_" | wc -l)" -eq 0 ]] || exit 1
+
   bake-annotations:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 379bfa67..a20c492b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@ The following inputs can be used as `step.with` keys:
 | `sep-labels`      | String | Separator to use for labels output (default `\n`)                            |
 | `sep-annotations` | String | Separator to use for annotations output (default `\n`)                       |
 | `bake-target`     | String | Bake target name (default `docker-metadata-action`)                          |
+| `output-env`      | Bool   | If `true`, sets each output as an environmental variable (default `true`)    |
 
 ### outputs
 
@@ -319,7 +320,7 @@ The following outputs are available:
 | `bake-file-labels`      | File   | [Bake file definition](https://docs.docker.com/build/bake/reference/) path with labels                                                                          |
 | `bake-file-annotations` | File   | [Bake file definition](https://docs.docker.com/build/bake/reference/) path with [annotations](https://github.com/moby/buildkit/blob/master/docs/annotations.md) |
 
-Alternatively, each output is also exported as an environment variable:
+Alternatively, each output is also exported as an environment variable when `output-env` is `true`:
 
 * `DOCKER_METADATA_OUTPUT_VERSION`
 * `DOCKER_METADATA_OUTPUT_TAGS`
diff --git a/__tests__/context.test.ts b/__tests__/context.test.ts
index 6bd141ba..28698ef3 100644
--- a/__tests__/context.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/context.test.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ describe('getInputs', () => {
         sepTags: '\n',
         sepAnnotations: '\n',
         tags: [],
+        outputEnv: true,
       } as Inputs
     ],
     [
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ describe('getInputs', () => {
         sepTags: ',',
         sepAnnotations: ',',
         tags: [],
+        outputEnv: true,
       } as Inputs
     ],
     [
@@ -89,6 +91,7 @@ describe('getInputs', () => {
         sepTags: '\n',
         sepAnnotations: '\n',
         tags: [],
+        outputEnv: true,
       } as Inputs
     ],
   ])(
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 35472d9d..dc772c10 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ inputs:
   bake-target:
     description: 'Bake target name (default docker-metadata-action)'
     required: false
+  output-env:
+    description:
+    default: 'true'
+    required: true
   github-token:
     description: 'GitHub Token as provided by secrets'
     default: ${{ github.token }}
diff --git a/src/context.ts b/src/context.ts
index 7d69c531..4436c856 100644
--- a/src/context.ts
+++ b/src/context.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export interface Inputs {
   sepLabels: string;
   sepAnnotations: string;
   bakeTarget: string;
+  outputEnv: boolean;
   githubToken: string;
 }
 
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ export function getInputs(): Inputs {
     sepLabels: core.getInput('sep-labels', {trimWhitespace: false}) || `\n`,
     sepAnnotations: core.getInput('sep-annotations', {trimWhitespace: false}) || `\n`,
     bakeTarget: core.getInput('bake-target') || `docker-metadata-action`,
+    outputEnv: (core.getInput('output-env') || 'true') === 'true',
     githubToken: core.getInput('github-token')
   };
 }
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index 9d341a27..4278e981 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ actionsToolkit.run(
     const toolkit = new Toolkit({githubToken: inputs.githubToken});
     const context = await getContext(inputs.context, toolkit);
     const repo = await toolkit.github.repoData();
+    const setOutput = inputs.outputEnv ? setOutputAndEnv : core.setOutput;
 
     await core.group(`Context info`, async () => {
       core.info(`eventName: ${context.eventName}`);
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ actionsToolkit.run(
   }
 );
 
-function setOutput(name: string, value: string) {
+function setOutputAndEnv(name: string, value: string) {
   core.setOutput(name, value);
   core.exportVariable(`DOCKER_METADATA_OUTPUT_${name.replace(/\W/g, '_').toUpperCase()}`, value);
 }