diff --git a/mercurial/color.py b/mercurial/color.py
--- a/mercurial/color.py
+++ b/mercurial/color.py
@@ -198,6 +198,13 @@
     if config == 'debug':
         return 'debug'
 
+    # The http://no-color.org/ initiative wants to standardize on an environment
+    # variable to disable color. The value of this variable doesn't matter.
+    if 'NO_COLOR' in encoding.environ:
+        # Allow --color CLI argument to override NO_COLOR
+        if ui.configsource('ui', 'color') != '--color':
+            return None
+
     auto = (config == 'auto')
     always = False
     if not auto and util.parsebool(config):
diff --git a/tests/test-status-color.t b/tests/test-status-color.t
--- a/tests/test-status-color.t
+++ b/tests/test-status-color.t
@@ -46,6 +46,42 @@
   [status.unknown|? ][status.unknown|b/in_b] (glob)
   [status.unknown|? ][status.unknown|in_root]
 
+NO_COLOR disables color
+
+  $ NO_COLOR=1 hg status
+  ? a/1/in_a_1
+  ? a/in_a
+  ? b/1/in_b_1
+  ? b/2/in_b_2
+  ? b/in_b
+  ? in_root
+
+  $ NO_COLOR=0 hg status
+  ? a/1/in_a_1
+  ? a/in_a
+  ? b/1/in_b_1
+  ? b/2/in_b_2
+  ? b/in_b
+  ? in_root
+
+  $ NO_COLOR= hg status
+  ? a/1/in_a_1
+  ? a/in_a
+  ? b/1/in_b_1
+  ? b/2/in_b_2
+  ? b/in_b
+  ? in_root
+
+NO_COLOR is overridden by --color
+
+  $ NO_COLOR=1 hg --color=always status
+  \x1b[0;35;1;4m? \x1b[0m\x1b[0;35;1;4ma/1/in_a_1\x1b[0m (esc)
+  \x1b[0;35;1;4m? \x1b[0m\x1b[0;35;1;4ma/in_a\x1b[0m (esc)
+  \x1b[0;35;1;4m? \x1b[0m\x1b[0;35;1;4mb/1/in_b_1\x1b[0m (esc)
+  \x1b[0;35;1;4m? \x1b[0m\x1b[0;35;1;4mb/2/in_b_2\x1b[0m (esc)
+  \x1b[0;35;1;4m? \x1b[0m\x1b[0;35;1;4mb/in_b\x1b[0m (esc)
+  \x1b[0;35;1;4m? \x1b[0m\x1b[0;35;1;4min_root\x1b[0m (esc)
+
 hg status with template
   $ hg status -T "{label('red', path)}\n" --color=debug
   [red|a/1/in_a_1]