diff --git a/backend/src/db/instance.ts b/backend/src/db/instance.ts
index 1eb54c136..c379c24a5 100644
--- a/backend/src/db/instance.ts
+++ b/backend/src/db/instance.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,23 @@
 import knex from "knex";
 
 export type TDbClient = ReturnType<typeof initDbConnection>;
-export const initDbConnection = (dbConnectionUri: string) => {
+export const initDbConnection = ({
+  dbConnectionUri,
+  dbRootCert
+}: {
+  dbConnectionUri: string;
+  dbRootCert?: string;
+}) => {
   const db = knex({
     client: "pg",
-    connection: dbConnectionUri
+    connection: {
+      connectionString: dbConnectionUri,
+      ssl: dbRootCert ? {
+        rejectUnauthorized: true,
+        ca: Buffer.from(dbRootCert, 'base64').toString('ascii')
+      } : false
+    }
   });
 
   return db;
-};
+};
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/src/lib/config/env.ts b/backend/src/lib/config/env.ts
index 11c1a3a36..62217749e 100644
--- a/backend/src/lib/config/env.ts
+++ b/backend/src/lib/config/env.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ const envSchema = z
     PORT: z.coerce.number().default(4000),
     REDIS_URL: zpStr(z.string()),
     HOST: zpStr(z.string().default("localhost")),
-    DB_CONNECTION_URI: zpStr(z.string().describe("Postgres database conntection string")),
+    DB_CONNECTION_URI: zpStr(z.string().describe("Postgres database connection string")),
+    DB_ROOT_CERT: zpStr(z.string().describe("Postgres database base64-encoded CA cert").optional()),
     NODE_ENV: z.enum(["development", "test", "production"]).default("production"),
     SALT_ROUNDS: z.coerce.number().default(10),
     // TODO(akhilmhdh): will be changed to one
diff --git a/backend/src/main.ts b/backend/src/main.ts
index c1a3d7207..f85eed3ed 100644
--- a/backend/src/main.ts
+++ b/backend/src/main.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,11 @@ dotenv.config();
 const run = async () => {
   const logger = await initLogger();
   const appCfg = initEnvConfig(logger);
-  const db = initDbConnection(appCfg.DB_CONNECTION_URI);
+  const db = initDbConnection({
+    dbConnectionUri: appCfg.DB_CONNECTION_URI,
+    dbRootCert: appCfg.DB_ROOT_CERT
+  });
+  
   const smtp = smtpServiceFactory(formatSmtpConfig());
   const queue = queueServiceFactory(appCfg.REDIS_URL);