diff --git a/deploy/charts/cert-manager/templates/deployment.yaml b/deploy/charts/cert-manager/templates/deployment.yaml
index 8c7403dd9..a33c171d7 100644
--- a/deploy/charts/cert-manager/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/deploy/charts/cert-manager/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -137,6 +137,9 @@ spec:
           {{- with .Values.dns01RecursiveNameservers }}
           - --dns01-recursive-nameservers={{ . }}
           {{- end }}
+          {{- if .Values.disableAutoApproval }}
+          - --controllers=-certificaterequests-approver
+          {{- end }}
           ports:
           - containerPort: 9402
             name: http-metrics
diff --git a/deploy/charts/cert-manager/templates/rbac.yaml b/deploy/charts/cert-manager/templates/rbac.yaml
index 94b0950b7..7a27d4f7a 100644
--- a/deploy/charts/cert-manager/templates/rbac.yaml
+++ b/deploy/charts/cert-manager/templates/rbac.yaml
@@ -474,6 +474,8 @@ rules:
 
 ---
 
+{{- if not .Values.disableAutoApproval -}}
+
 # Permission to approve CertificateRequests referencing cert-manager.io Issuers and ClusterIssuers
 apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
 kind: ClusterRole
@@ -489,7 +491,12 @@ rules:
   - apiGroups: ["cert-manager.io"]
     resources: ["signers"]
     verbs: ["approve"]
-    resourceNames: ["issuers.cert-manager.io/*", "clusterissuers.cert-manager.io/*"]
+    {{- with .Values.approveSignerNames }}
+    resourceNames:
+    {{- range . }}
+    - {{ . | quote }}
+    {{- end  }}
+    {{- end }}
 
 ---
 
@@ -514,6 +521,8 @@ subjects:
 
 ---
 
+{{- end -}}
+
 # Permission to:
 # - Update and sign CertificatSigningeRequests referencing cert-manager.io Issuers and ClusterIssuers
 # - Perform SubjectAccessReviews to test whether users are able to reference Namespaced Issuers
diff --git a/deploy/charts/cert-manager/values.yaml b/deploy/charts/cert-manager/values.yaml
index 958e3589b..7630c048e 100644
--- a/deploy/charts/cert-manager/values.yaml
+++ b/deploy/charts/cert-manager/values.yaml
@@ -241,6 +241,23 @@ dns01RecursiveNameservers: ""
 # Enabling this option could cause the DNS01 self check to take longer owing to caching performed by the recursive nameservers.
 dns01RecursiveNameserversOnly: false
 
+# Option to disable cert-manager's build-in auto-approver. The auto-approver
+# approves all CertificateRequests that reference issuers matching the 'approveSignerNames'
+# option. This 'disableAutoApproval' option is useful when you want to make all approval decisions
+# using a different approver (like approver-policy - https://github.com/cert-manager/approver-policy).
+disableAutoApproval: false
+
+# List of signer names that cert-manager will approve by default. CertificateRequests
+# referencing these signer names will be auto-approved by cert-manager. Defaults to just
+# approving the cert-manager.io Issuer and ClusterIssuer issuers. When set to an empty
+# array, ALL issuers will be auto-approved by cert-manager. To disable the auto-approval,
+# because eg. you are using approver-policy, you can enable 'disableAutoApproval'.
+# ref: https://cert-manager.io/docs/concepts/certificaterequest/#approval
+# +docs:property
+approveSignerNames:
+- issuers.cert-manager.io/*
+- clusterissuers.cert-manager.io/*
+
 # Additional command line flags to pass to cert-manager controller binary.
 # To see all available flags run `docker run quay.io/jetstack/cert-manager-controller:<version> --help`.
 #