diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cf22a019..39de9dcf 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ endif()
 if(H5BENCH_E3SM)
     ExternalProject_Add(h5bench_e3sm
         SOURCE_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/e3sm
-        CONFIGURE_COMMAND autoreconf -i COMMAND ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/e3sm/configure --prefix=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR} --with-hdf5=${HDF5_HOME}
+        CONFIGURE_COMMAND autoreconf -i COMMAND ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/e3sm/configure --prefix=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR} --with-hdf5=${HDF5_HOME} CFLAGS=-fno-var-tracking-assignments CXXFLAGS=-fno-var-tracking-assignments
         BUILD_COMMAND make -j 1
         INSTALL_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy src/e3sm_io ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/h5bench_e3sm 
         BUILD_IN_SOURCE 1