diff --git a/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c b/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
index 4a82a50e3..d71415b84 100644
--- a/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
+++ b/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
@@ -490,7 +490,9 @@ esp_http_client_handle_t esp_http_client_init(const esp_http_client_config_t *co
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    if (config->cert_pem) {
+    if (config->use_global_ca_store == true) {
+        esp_transport_ssl_enable_global_ca_store(ssl);
+    } else if (config->cert_pem) {
         esp_transport_ssl_set_cert_data(ssl, config->cert_pem, strlen(config->cert_pem));
     }
 #endif
diff --git a/components/esp_http_client/include/esp_http_client.h b/components/esp_http_client/include/esp_http_client.h
index 4e940a6d1..ce368de52 100644
--- a/components/esp_http_client/include/esp_http_client.h
+++ b/components/esp_http_client/include/esp_http_client.h
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ typedef struct {
     int                         buffer_size;              /*!< HTTP buffer size (both send and receive) */
     void                        *user_data;               /*!< HTTP user_data context */
     bool                        is_async;                 /*!< Set asynchronous mode, only supported with HTTPS for now */
+    bool                        use_global_ca_store;      /*!< Use a global ca_store for all the connections in which this bool is set. */
 } esp_http_client_config_t;
 
 
diff --git a/components/esp_https_ota/src/esp_https_ota.c b/components/esp_https_ota/src/esp_https_ota.c
index 9929a1856..d3f4ad3c8 100644
--- a/components/esp_https_ota/src/esp_https_ota.c
+++ b/components/esp_https_ota/src/esp_https_ota.c
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ esp_err_t esp_https_ota(const esp_http_client_config_t *config)
         return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
     }
 
-    if (!config->cert_pem) {
-        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Server certificate not found in esp_http_client config");
-        return ESP_FAIL;
+    if (!config->cert_pem && !config->use_global_ca_store) {
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Server certificate not found, either through configuration or global CA store");
+        return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
     }
 
     esp_http_client_handle_t client = esp_http_client_init(config);
diff --git a/components/tcp_transport/include/esp_transport_ssl.h b/components/tcp_transport/include/esp_transport_ssl.h
index 34045ae77..c42fd0935 100644
--- a/components/tcp_transport/include/esp_transport_ssl.h
+++ b/components/tcp_transport/include/esp_transport_ssl.h
@@ -40,6 +40,13 @@ esp_transport_handle_t esp_transport_ssl_init();
  */
 void esp_transport_ssl_set_cert_data(esp_transport_handle_t t, const char *data, int len);
 
+/**
+ * @brief      Enable global CA store for SSL connection
+ *
+ * @param      t    ssl transport
+ */
+void esp_transport_ssl_enable_global_ca_store(esp_transport_handle_t t);
+
 /**
  * @brief      Set SSL client certificate data for mutual authentication (as PEM format).
  *             Note that, this function stores the pointer to data, rather than making a copy.
diff --git a/components/tcp_transport/transport_ssl.c b/components/tcp_transport/transport_ssl.c
index 436f8a943..12a9d3d85 100644
--- a/components/tcp_transport/transport_ssl.c
+++ b/components/tcp_transport/transport_ssl.c
@@ -152,6 +152,14 @@ static int ssl_destroy(esp_transport_handle_t t)
     return 0;
 }
 
+void esp_transport_ssl_enable_global_ca_store(esp_transport_handle_t t)
+{
+    transport_ssl_t *ssl = esp_transport_get_context_data(t);
+    if (t && ssl) {
+        ssl->cfg.use_global_ca_store = true;
+    }
+}
+
 void esp_transport_ssl_set_cert_data(esp_transport_handle_t t, const char *data, int len)
 {
     transport_ssl_t *ssl = esp_transport_get_context_data(t);