diff --git a/app/config.py b/app/config.py
index 3fe195776..c4443ee1f 100644
--- a/app/config.py
+++ b/app/config.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import os
 
 
-if os.environ.get('VCAP_SERVICES'):
-    # on cloudfoundry, config is a json blob in VCAP_SERVICES - unpack it, and populate
+if os.environ.get('VCAP_APPLICATION'):
+    # on cloudfoundry, config is a json blob in VCAP_APPLICATION - unpack it, and populate
     # standard environment variables from it
     from app.cloudfoundry_config import extract_cloudfoundry_config
     extract_cloudfoundry_config()
diff --git a/tests/app/test_config.py b/tests/app/test_config.py
index 87cc10aed..9ea0f3c72 100644
--- a/tests/app/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/app/test_config.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def reload_config():
 
 def test_load_cloudfoundry_config_if_available(monkeypatch, reload_config):
     os.environ['API_HOST_NAME'] = 'env'
-    monkeypatch.setenv('VCAP_SERVICES', 'some json blob')
+    monkeypatch.setenv('VCAP_APPLICATION', 'some json blob')
 
     with mock.patch('app.cloudfoundry_config.extract_cloudfoundry_config', side_effect=cf_conf) as cf_config:
         # reload config so that its module level code (ie: all of it) is re-instantiated
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def test_load_cloudfoundry_config_if_available(monkeypatch, reload_config):
 def test_load_config_if_cloudfoundry_not_available(monkeypatch, reload_config):
     os.environ['API_HOST_NAME'] = 'env'
 
-    monkeypatch.delenv('VCAP_SERVICES', raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv('VCAP_APPLICATION', raising=False)
 
     with mock.patch('app.cloudfoundry_config.extract_cloudfoundry_config') as cf_config:
         # reload config so that its module level code (ie: all of it) is re-instantiated