diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 233cabc9559..a51ce824b7d 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -407,6 +407,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "waitpid-any",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "atty"
+version = "0.2.14"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d9b39be18770d11421cdb1b9947a45dd3f37e93092cbf377614828a319d5fee8"
+dependencies = [
+ "hermit-abi 0.1.19",
+ "libc",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "autocfg"
 version = "1.1.0"
@@ -1492,6 +1503,19 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn 2.0.26",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "env_logger"
+version = "0.9.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a12e6657c4c97ebab115a42dcee77225f7f482cdd841cf7088c657a42e9e00e7"
+dependencies = [
+ "atty",
+ "humantime",
+ "log",
+ "regex",
+ "termcolor",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "equivalent"
 version = "1.0.1"
@@ -1918,6 +1942,15 @@ version = "0.4.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "95505c38b4572b2d910cecb0281560f54b440a19336cbbcb27bf6ce6adc6f5a8"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "hermit-abi"
+version = "0.1.19"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "62b467343b94ba476dcb2500d242dadbb39557df889310ac77c5d99100aaac33"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "hermit-abi"
 version = "0.3.2"
@@ -1973,6 +2006,12 @@ version = "1.0.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c4a1e36c821dbe04574f602848a19f742f4fb3c98d40449f11bcad18d6b17421"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "humantime"
+version = "2.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9a3a5bfb195931eeb336b2a7b4d761daec841b97f947d34394601737a7bba5e4"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "hyper"
 version = "0.14.27"
@@ -2170,7 +2209,7 @@ version = "0.4.9"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "cb0889898416213fab133e1d33a0e5858a48177452750691bde3666d0fdbaf8b"
 dependencies = [
- "hermit-abi",
+ "hermit-abi 0.3.2",
  "rustix",
  "windows-sys 0.48.0",
 ]
@@ -2434,6 +2473,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "const_format",
  "criterion",
  "dirs",
+ "env_logger",
  "fm",
  "hex",
  "iai",
@@ -2767,7 +2807,7 @@ version = "1.16.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4161fcb6d602d4d2081af7c3a45852d875a03dd337a6bfdd6e06407b61342a43"
 dependencies = [
- "hermit-abi",
+ "hermit-abi 0.3.2",
  "libc",
 ]
 
diff --git a/tooling/nargo_cli/Cargo.toml b/tooling/nargo_cli/Cargo.toml
index 4824a754d1f..008b1233cd8 100644
--- a/tooling/nargo_cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/tooling/nargo_cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ hex.workspace = true
 similar-asserts.workspace = true
 termcolor = "1.1.2"
 color-eyre = "0.6.2"
+env_logger = "0.9.0"
 tokio = { version = "1.0", features = ["io-std"] }
 
 # Backends
diff --git a/tooling/nargo_cli/src/main.rs b/tooling/nargo_cli/src/main.rs
index f998f5c433f..7eeca2ab2b0 100644
--- a/tooling/nargo_cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/tooling/nargo_cli/src/main.rs
@@ -14,11 +14,15 @@ mod errors;
 use std::env;
 
 use color_eyre::config::HookBuilder;
+use env_logger::{Builder, Env};
 use tracing_appender::rolling;
 
 const PANIC_MESSAGE: &str = "This is a bug. We may have already fixed this in newer versions of Nargo so try searching for similar issues at https://github.com/noir-lang/noir/issues/.\nIf there isn't an open issue for this bug, consider opening one at https://github.com/noir-lang/noir/issues/new?labels=bug&template=bug_report.yml";
 
 fn main() {
+    let env = Env::default().filter_or("NOIR_LOG", "error"); // Default to 'error' if NOIR_LOG is not set
+    Builder::from_env(env).init();
+
     // Setup tracing
     if let Ok(log_dir) = env::var("NARGO_LOG_DIR") {
         let debug_file = rolling::daily(log_dir, "nargo-log");