diff --git a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/azure/azure.go b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/azure/azure.go
index 8ae82707ded..84fab4dd64b 100644
--- a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/azure/azure.go
+++ b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/azure/azure.go
@@ -327,6 +327,11 @@ func NewCloud(configReader io.Reader) (cloudprovider.Interface, error) {
 // ParseConfig returns a parsed configuration and azure.Environment for an Azure cloudprovider config file
 func ParseConfig(configReader io.Reader) (*Config, *azure.Environment, error) {
 	var config Config
+	var env azure.Environment
+
+	if configReader == nil {
+		return &config, &env, nil
+	}
 
 	configContents, err := ioutil.ReadAll(configReader)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -337,7 +342,6 @@ func ParseConfig(configReader io.Reader) (*Config, *azure.Environment, error) {
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
 
-	var env azure.Environment
 	if config.Cloud == "" {
 		env = azure.PublicCloud
 	} else {