diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index fd4ea09d7f0..6dfba9fa9e6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     needs: detect-ci-trigger
     if: needs.detect-ci-trigger.outputs.triggered == 'false'
+    env:
+      ZARR_V3_EXPERIMENTAL_API: 1
     defaults:
       run:
         shell: bash -l {0}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/upstream-dev-ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/upstream-dev-ci.yaml
index cb8319cc58f..0b330e205eb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/upstream-dev-ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/upstream-dev-ci.yaml
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ jobs:
     name: upstream-dev
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: detect-ci-trigger
+    env:
+      ZARR_V3_EXPERIMENTAL_API: 1
     if: |
         always()
         && (
@@ -82,7 +84,6 @@ jobs:
         if: success()
         id: status
         run: |
-          export ZARR_V3_EXPERIMENTAL_API=1
           python -m pytest --timeout=60 -rf \
             --report-log output-${{ matrix.python-version }}-log.jsonl
       - name: Generate and publish the report