diff --git a/esp/platform/espp.cpp b/esp/platform/espp.cpp
index 3998cbc3f0f..43366530897 100644
--- a/esp/platform/espp.cpp
+++ b/esp/platform/espp.cpp
@@ -469,16 +469,7 @@ int init_main(int argc, const char* argv[])
             envpt.setown(createPTreeFromXMLFile(cfgfile, ipt_caseInsensitive));
 
             // NB: esp has no standard component config in bare-metal, this is loading defaultYaml only
-            espConfig.setown(loadConfiguration(defaultYaml, argv, "esp", "ESP", "esp.xml", extractLegacyOptions));
-
-            // legacy esp.xml will contain a generated global section if present in the environment.
-            // replace the empty stub created by loadConfiguration with this environment globals section.
-            Owned<IPropertyTree> global = envpt->getPropTree("global");
-            if (global)
-            {
-                Owned<IPropertyTree> currentConfig = getComponentConfig();
-                replaceComponentConfig(currentConfig, global);
-            }
+            espConfig.setown(loadConfiguration(defaultYaml, argv, "esp", "ESP", cfgfile, extractLegacyOptions));
         }
         Owned<IPropertyTree> procpt = NULL;
         if (envpt)