diff --git a/docs/users/config-environment.md b/docs/users/config-environment.md
index 169b2aff73299f..68d7b04c0c71f6 100644
--- a/docs/users/config-environment.md
+++ b/docs/users/config-environment.md
@@ -88,3 +88,14 @@ This environment variable changes the metadata of produced NuGet packages. See [
 #### VCPKG_USE_NUGET_CACHE
 
 This environment variable allows using NuGet's cache for every nuget-based binary source. See [Binary Caching](binarycaching.md#NuGets-cache) for more details.
+
+#### VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE
+
+This environment variable allows to select a single build type configuration.
+This allows to reduce build times and disk storage requirements locally or in
+continuous integration setups.
+The environment variable overrides settings in triplet files.
+Note that some ports do not support single build type configurations.
+
+At the moment, the only supported value is: `release`.
+
diff --git a/scripts/ports.cmake b/scripts/ports.cmake
index 4adb481493abde..015fd33092a36e 100644
--- a/scripts/ports.cmake
+++ b/scripts/ports.cmake
@@ -139,6 +139,9 @@ if(CMD MATCHES "^BUILD$")
     include("${SCRIPTS}/cmake/z_vcpkg_apply_patches.cmake")
     include("${SCRIPTS}/cmake/z_vcpkg_prettify_command_line.cmake")
 
+    include("${SCRIPTS}/vcpkg_get_tags.cmake")
+    z_vcpkg_select_build_type()
+
     include("${CURRENT_PORT_DIR}/portfile.cmake")
     if(DEFINED PORT)
         include("${SCRIPTS}/build_info.cmake")
diff --git a/scripts/vcpkg_get_tags.cmake b/scripts/vcpkg_get_tags.cmake
index 749b06e5a9f12c..a6ffd460035ba0 100644
--- a/scripts/vcpkg_get_tags.cmake
+++ b/scripts/vcpkg_get_tags.cmake
@@ -1,4 +1,18 @@
+macro(z_vcpkg_select_build_type)
+    if(DEFINED ENV{VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE})
+        if(NOT "$ENV{VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE}" STREQUAL "release")
+            # Cf. https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg/pull/16110
+            message(FATAL_ERROR "The only supported value for VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE is 'release'.")
+        endif()
+        set(VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE "$ENV{VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE}")
+        if(NOT "VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE" IN_LIST VCPKG_ENV_PASSTHROUGH)
+            # This is for tracking, not for usage by ports.
+            list(APPEND VCPKG_ENV_PASSTHROUGH "VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE")
+        endif()
+    endif()
+endmacro()
 function(vcpkg_get_tags PORT FEATURES VCPKG_TRIPLET_ID VCPKG_ABI_SETTINGS_FILE)
+    z_vcpkg_select_build_type()
     message("d8187afd-ea4a-4fc3-9aa4-a6782e1ed9af")
     vcpkg_triplet_file(${VCPKG_TRIPLET_ID})