diff --git a/docs/usage.md b/docs/usage.md
index a3a6a304..609f9c71 100644
--- a/docs/usage.md
+++ b/docs/usage.md
@@ -33,8 +33,10 @@ executable called must be available by the OS or in PATH.
 
 If you omit a task name, "default" will be assumed.
 
-## Environment
+## Environment variables
 
+
+### Task
 You can use `env` to set custom environment variables for a specific task:
 
 ```yaml
@@ -66,6 +68,39 @@ tasks:
 > NOTE: `env` supports expansion and retrieving output from a shell command
 > just like variables, as you can see on the [Variables](#variables) section.
 
+
+### Operating System
+Environment variables from the OS are accessible using `$VARNAME`:
+
+```yaml
+version: '2'
+
+tasks:
+  greet:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Hello $USER"
+```
+
+### .env
+
+*.env* files are supported in v3 using the `dotenv` declaration:
+
+.env
+```
+KEYNAME=VALUE
+```
+Taskfile.yml
+```yaml
+version: '3'
+
+dotenv: ['.env']
+
+tasks:
+  greet:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Using $KEYNAME"
+```
+
 ## Operating System specific tasks
 
 If you add a `Taskfile_{{GOOS}}.yml` you can override or amend your Taskfile
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 82847d3d..180b78a8 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ module github.com/go-task/task/v2
 require (
 	github.com/fatih/color v1.7.0
 	github.com/go-task/slim-sprig v0.0.0-20200516131648-f9bac4e523eb
+	github.com/joho/godotenv v1.3.0
 	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.2 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-zglob v0.0.1
 	github.com/radovskyb/watcher v1.0.5
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 85e5048f..8cc5a938 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ github.com/fatih/color v1.7.0/go.mod h1:Zm6kSWBoL9eyXnKyktHP6abPY2pDugNf5Kwzbycv
 github.com/go-task/slim-sprig v0.0.0-20200516131648-f9bac4e523eb h1:/qbv1F67s6ehqX9mG23cJOeca3FWpOVKgtPfPUMAi0k=
 github.com/go-task/slim-sprig v0.0.0-20200516131648-f9bac4e523eb/go.mod h1:fyg7847qk6SyHyPtNmDHnmrv/HOrqktSC+C9fM+CJOE=
 github.com/google/renameio v0.1.0/go.mod h1:KWCgfxg9yswjAJkECMjeO8J8rahYeXnNhOm40UhjYkI=
+github.com/joho/godotenv v1.3.0 h1:Zjp+RcGpHhGlrMbJzXTrZZPrWj+1vfm90La1wgB6Bhc=
+github.com/joho/godotenv v1.3.0/go.mod h1:7hK45KPybAkOC6peb+G5yklZfMxEjkZhHbwpqxOKXbg=
 github.com/kr/pretty v0.1.0 h1:L/CwN0zerZDmRFUapSPitk6f+Q3+0za1rQkzVuMiMFI=
 github.com/kr/pretty v0.1.0/go.mod h1:dAy3ld7l9f0ibDNOQOHHMYYIIbhfbHSm3C4ZsoJORNo=
 github.com/kr/pretty v0.2.0 h1:s5hAObm+yFO5uHYt5dYjxi2rXrsnmRpJx4OYvIWUaQs=
diff --git a/internal/taskfile/read/taskfile.go b/internal/taskfile/read/taskfile.go
index 8bbe919f..70bee710 100644
--- a/internal/taskfile/read/taskfile.go
+++ b/internal/taskfile/read/taskfile.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package read
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/joho/godotenv"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 var (
 	// ErrIncludedTaskfilesCantHaveIncludes is returned when a included Taskfile contains includes
 	ErrIncludedTaskfilesCantHaveIncludes = errors.New("task: Included Taskfiles can't have includes. Please, move the include to the main Taskfile")
+	ErrIncludedTaskfilesCantHaveDotenvs = errors.New("task: Included Taskfiles can't have dotenv declarations. Please, move the dotenv declaration to the main Taskfile")
 )
 
 // Taskfile reads a Taskfile for a given directory
@@ -34,6 +36,22 @@ func Taskfile(dir string, entrypoint string) (*taskfile.Taskfile, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	if v >= 3.0 {
+		if len(t.Dotenv) > 0 {
+			for _, envFile := range t.Dotenv {
+				var envFilePath string
+				if filepath.IsAbs(envFile) {
+					envFilePath = envFile
+				} else {
+					envFilePath = filepath.Join(dir, envFile)
+				}
+				if  err = godotenv.Load(envFilePath); err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	for namespace, includedTask := range t.Includes {
 		if v >= 3.0 {
 			tr := templater.Templater{Vars: &taskfile.Vars{}, RemoveNoValue: true}
@@ -68,6 +86,12 @@ func Taskfile(dir string, entrypoint string) (*taskfile.Taskfile, error) {
 			return nil, ErrIncludedTaskfilesCantHaveIncludes
 		}
 
+		if v >= 3.0 {
+			if len(includedTaskfile.Dotenv) > 0 {
+				return nil, ErrIncludedTaskfilesCantHaveDotenvs
+			}
+		}
+
 		if includedTask.AdvancedImport {
 			for _, task := range includedTaskfile.Tasks {
 				if !filepath.IsAbs(task.Dir) {
diff --git a/internal/taskfile/taskfile.go b/internal/taskfile/taskfile.go
index d9a17ac0..5c6308d2 100644
--- a/internal/taskfile/taskfile.go
+++ b/internal/taskfile/taskfile.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ type Taskfile struct {
 	Env        *Vars
 	Tasks      Tasks
 	Silent     bool
+	Dotenv     []string
 }
 
 // UnmarshalYAML implements yaml.Unmarshaler interface
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ func (tf *Taskfile) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
 		Env        *Vars
 		Tasks      Tasks
 		Silent     bool
+		Dotenv 	   []string
 	}
 	if err := unmarshal(&taskfile); err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -43,6 +45,7 @@ func (tf *Taskfile) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
 	tf.Env = taskfile.Env
 	tf.Tasks = taskfile.Tasks
 	tf.Silent = taskfile.Silent
+	tf.Dotenv = taskfile.Dotenv
 	if tf.Expansions <= 0 {
 		tf.Expansions = 2
 	}
diff --git a/task_test.go b/task_test.go
index e8bbe438..87a5552a 100644
--- a/task_test.go
+++ b/task_test.go
@@ -816,3 +816,50 @@ func TestShortTaskNotation(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NoError(t, e.Run(context.Background(), taskfile.Call{Task: "default"}))
 	assert.Equal(t, "string-slice-1\nstring-slice-2\nstring\n", buff.String())
 }
+
+func TestDotenvShouldIncludeAllEnvFiles(t *testing.T) {
+	tt := fileContentTest{
+		Dir:       "testdata/dotenv",
+		Target:    "default",
+		TrimSpace: false,
+		Files: map[string]string{
+			"include.txt":  "INCLUDE1='from_include1' INCLUDE2='from_include2'\n",
+		},
+	}
+	tt.Run(t)
+}
+
+func TestDotenvShouldErrorWithIncludeEnvPath(t *testing.T) {
+	const dir = "testdata/dotenv"
+	const entry = "Taskfile-errors1.yml"
+
+	var buff bytes.Buffer
+	e := task.Executor{
+		Dir:     dir,
+		Entrypoint: entry,
+		Summary: true,
+		Stdout:  &buff,
+		Stderr:  &buff,
+	}
+	err := e.Setup()
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "no such file")
+}
+
+func TestDotenvShouldErrorWhenIncludingDependantDotenvs(t *testing.T) {
+	const dir = "testdata/dotenv"
+	const entry = "Taskfile-errors2.yml"
+
+	var buff bytes.Buffer
+	e := task.Executor{
+		Dir:     dir,
+		Entrypoint: entry,
+		Summary: true,
+		Stdout:  &buff,
+		Stderr:  &buff,
+	}
+
+	err := e.Setup()
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "move the dotenv")
+}
diff --git a/testdata/dotenv/.gitignore b/testdata/dotenv/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2211df63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/dotenv/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.txt
diff --git a/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile-errors1.yml b/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile-errors1.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8551f165
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile-errors1.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+version: '3'
+
+dotenv: ['include1/.env', 'include1/envs/.env', 'file-does-not-exist']
+
+tasks:
+  default:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "INCLUDE1='$INCLUDE1' INCLUDE2='$INCLUDE2'" > include-errors1.txt
diff --git a/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile-errors2.yml b/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile-errors2.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7da25c5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile-errors2.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+version: '3'
+
+includes:
+  include1: './include1'
+
+tasks:
+  default:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "INCLUDE1='$INCLUDE1' INCLUDE2='$INCLUDE2'" > include-errors2.txt
diff --git a/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile.yml b/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f4b775fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/dotenv/Taskfile.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+version: '3'
+
+dotenv: ['include1/.env', 'include1/envs/.env']
+
+tasks:
+  default:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "INCLUDE1='$INCLUDE1' INCLUDE2='$INCLUDE2'" > include.txt
diff --git a/testdata/dotenv/include1/.env b/testdata/dotenv/include1/.env
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..15bd90a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/dotenv/include1/.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+INCLUDE1=from_include1
diff --git a/testdata/dotenv/include1/Taskfile.yml b/testdata/dotenv/include1/Taskfile.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43a4b6b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/dotenv/include1/Taskfile.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version: '3'
+
+dotenv: ['.env']
diff --git a/testdata/dotenv/include1/envs/.env b/testdata/dotenv/include1/envs/.env
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..17a38fd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/dotenv/include1/envs/.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+INCLUDE2=from_include2