diff --git a/CHANGELOG-2.x.md b/CHANGELOG-2.x.md
index 1f57606348..0e27a8a65b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG-2.x.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG-2.x.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Fix babel/env not picking the correct browserslist configuration during development. When running `docusaurus start`, `process.env.NODE_ENV` is now consistently set to `development`.
 - Ensure routes config generation to be more consistent in ordering. Nested routes should be placed last in routes.js. This will allow user to create `src/pages/docs.js` to create custom docs page for `/docs` or even `src/pages/docs/super.js` to create page for `/docs/super/`;
 - Fix watcher does not trigger reload on windows.
 - Add feed for blog posts.
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus/src/commands/build.ts b/packages/docusaurus/src/commands/build.ts
index dc6c1e8ca6..5c10bea033 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus/src/commands/build.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus/src/commands/build.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ export async function build(
   siteDir: string,
   cliOptions: Partial<BuildCLIOptions> = {},
 ): Promise<void> {
+  process.env.BABEL_ENV = 'production';
   process.env.NODE_ENV = 'production';
   console.log(chalk.blue('Creating an optimized production build...'));
 
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus/src/commands/start.ts b/packages/docusaurus/src/commands/start.ts
index c77207f0c5..292091921e 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus/src/commands/start.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus/src/commands/start.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ export async function start(
   siteDir: string,
   cliOptions: Partial<StartCLIOptions> = {},
 ): Promise<void> {
+  process.env.NODE_ENV = 'development';
+  process.env.BABEL_ENV = 'development';
   console.log(chalk.blue('Starting the development server...'));
 
   // Process all related files as a prop.