diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl.c
index 80c417913..59d2e74d4 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl.c
@@ -363,13 +363,17 @@ _cogl_context_get_gl_extensions (CoglContext *context)
       char **split_env_disabled_extensions;
       char **src, **dst;
 
-      if (env_disabled_extensions)
-        split_env_disabled_extensions =
-          g_strsplit (env_disabled_extensions,
-                      ",",
-                      0 /* no max tokens */);
+      if (*env_disabled_extensions)
+        {
+          split_env_disabled_extensions =
+            g_strsplit (env_disabled_extensions,
+                        ",",
+                        0 /* no max tokens */);
+        }
       else
-        split_env_disabled_extensions = NULL;
+        {
+          split_env_disabled_extensions = NULL;
+        }
 
       for (dst = ret, src = ret;
            *src;