diff --git a/stack/base/Dockerfile b/stack/base/Dockerfile
index 25e5091d..99cbdad0 100644
--- a/stack/base/Dockerfile
+++ b/stack/base/Dockerfile
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ RUN cat /opt/requirements.txt | xargs -I{} conda config --system --add pinned_pa
 # Configure pip to use the same requirements file as constraints file.
 ENV PIP_CONSTRAINT /opt/requirements.txt
 # Ensure that pip installs packages to ~/.local by default
-ENV PIP_USER 1
+COPY pip.conf /etc/pip.conf
 
 # Upgrade pip and mamba to latest
 # Install aiida-core and other shared requirements.
diff --git a/stack/base/pip.conf b/stack/base/pip.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5c0e8830
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stack/base/pip.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[install]
+user = true