diff --git a/scripts/powerline b/scripts/powerline
index ffae9863..0926a760 100755
--- a/scripts/powerline
+++ b/scripts/powerline
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ except ImportError:
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
 	args = get_argparser(description=__doc__).parse_args()
-	powerline = ShellPowerline(args, run_once=True)
+	kwargs = {}
+	if 'PWD' in os.environ:
+		kwargs['getcwd'] = lambda: os.environ['PWD']
+	powerline = ShellPowerline(args, run_once=True, **kwargs)
 	rendered = powerline.renderer.render(width=args.width, side=args.side, segment_info=args)
 	try:
 		sys.stdout.write(rendered)