diff --git a/pkg/instrumentation/podmutator_test.go b/pkg/instrumentation/podmutator_test.go
index 101d24fe24..3418b5533b 100644
--- a/pkg/instrumentation/podmutator_test.go
+++ b/pkg/instrumentation/podmutator_test.go
@@ -408,6 +408,10 @@ func TestMutatePod(t *testing.T) {
 								Name:  "OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER",
 								Value: "otlp_proto_http",
 							},
+							{
+								Name:  "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER",
+								Value: "none",
+							},
 							{
 								Name:  "OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT",
 								Value: "http://localhost:4317",
@@ -489,6 +493,10 @@ func TestMutatePod(t *testing.T) {
 									Name:  "OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER",
 									Value: "otlp_proto_http",
 								},
+								{
+									Name:  "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER",
+									Value: "none",
+								},
 								{
 									Name:  "OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT",
 									Value: "http://localhost:4317",
diff --git a/pkg/instrumentation/python.go b/pkg/instrumentation/python.go
index e2c7495b0a..b3956e3530 100644
--- a/pkg/instrumentation/python.go
+++ b/pkg/instrumentation/python.go
@@ -24,10 +24,11 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	envPythonPath         = "PYTHONPATH"
-	envOtelTracesExporter = "OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER"
-	pythonPathPrefix      = "/otel-auto-instrumentation/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation"
-	pythonPathSuffix      = "/otel-auto-instrumentation"
+	envPythonPath          = "PYTHONPATH"
+	envOtelTracesExporter  = "OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER"
+	envOtelMetricsExporter = "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER"
+	pythonPathPrefix       = "/otel-auto-instrumentation/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation"
+	pythonPathSuffix       = "/otel-auto-instrumentation"
 )
 
 func injectPythonSDK(logger logr.Logger, pythonSpec v1alpha1.Python, pod corev1.Pod, index int) corev1.Pod {
@@ -68,6 +69,18 @@ func injectPythonSDK(logger logr.Logger, pythonSpec v1alpha1.Python, pod corev1.
 		})
 	}
 
+	// TODO: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/issues/2447 this should
+	// also be set to `otlp_proto_http` once an exporter is implemented. For now, set
+	// OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER to none if not set by user to prevent using the default grpc
+	// exporter which is not included in the image.
+	idx = getIndexOfEnv(container.Env, envOtelMetricsExporter)
+	if idx == -1 {
+		container.Env = append(container.Env, corev1.EnvVar{
+			Name:  envOtelMetricsExporter,
+			Value: "none",
+		})
+	}
+
 	container.VolumeMounts = append(container.VolumeMounts, corev1.VolumeMount{
 		Name:      volumeName,
 		MountPath: "/otel-auto-instrumentation",
diff --git a/pkg/instrumentation/python_test.go b/pkg/instrumentation/python_test.go
index 2d510fca38..c8a4887a19 100644
--- a/pkg/instrumentation/python_test.go
+++ b/pkg/instrumentation/python_test.go
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ func TestInjectPythonSDK(t *testing.T) {
 									Name:  "OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER",
 									Value: "otlp_proto_http",
 								},
+								{
+									Name:  "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER",
+									Value: "none",
+								},
 							},
 						},
 					},
@@ -141,6 +145,10 @@ func TestInjectPythonSDK(t *testing.T) {
 									Name:  "OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER",
 									Value: "otlp_proto_http",
 								},
+								{
+									Name:  "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER",
+									Value: "none",
+								},
 							},
 						},
 					},
@@ -202,6 +210,75 @@ func TestInjectPythonSDK(t *testing.T) {
 									Name:  "PYTHONPATH",
 									Value: fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", pythonPathPrefix, pythonPathSuffix),
 								},
+								{
+									Name:  "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER",
+									Value: "none",
+								},
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER defined",
+			Python: v1alpha1.Python{Image: "foo/bar:1"},
+			pod: corev1.Pod{
+				Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
+					Containers: []corev1.Container{
+						{
+							Env: []corev1.EnvVar{
+								{
+									Name:  "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER",
+									Value: "somebackend",
+								},
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expected: corev1.Pod{
+				Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
+					Volumes: []corev1.Volume{
+						{
+							Name: volumeName,
+							VolumeSource: corev1.VolumeSource{
+								EmptyDir: &corev1.EmptyDirVolumeSource{},
+							},
+						},
+					},
+					InitContainers: []corev1.Container{
+						{
+							Name:    initContainerName,
+							Image:   "foo/bar:1",
+							Command: []string{"cp", "-a", "/autoinstrumentation/.", "/otel-auto-instrumentation/"},
+							VolumeMounts: []corev1.VolumeMount{{
+								Name:      volumeName,
+								MountPath: "/otel-auto-instrumentation",
+							}},
+						},
+					},
+					Containers: []corev1.Container{
+						{
+							VolumeMounts: []corev1.VolumeMount{
+								{
+									Name:      volumeName,
+									MountPath: "/otel-auto-instrumentation",
+								},
+							},
+							Env: []corev1.EnvVar{
+								{
+									Name:  "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER",
+									Value: "somebackend",
+								},
+								{
+									Name:  "PYTHONPATH",
+									Value: fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", pythonPathPrefix, pythonPathSuffix),
+								},
+								{
+									Name:  "OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER",
+									Value: "otlp_proto_http",
+								},
 							},
 						},
 					},
diff --git a/pkg/instrumentation/sdk_test.go b/pkg/instrumentation/sdk_test.go
index 31c29282f6..c900193f2d 100644
--- a/pkg/instrumentation/sdk_test.go
+++ b/pkg/instrumentation/sdk_test.go
@@ -636,6 +636,10 @@ func TestInjectPython(t *testing.T) {
 							Name:  "OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER",
 							Value: "otlp_proto_http",
 						},
+						{
+							Name:  "OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER",
+							Value: "none",
+						},
 						{
 							Name:  "OTEL_SERVICE_NAME",
 							Value: "app",
diff --git a/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python-multicontainer/01-assert.yaml b/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python-multicontainer/01-assert.yaml
index 196be91e8d..41d2a13ea6 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python-multicontainer/01-assert.yaml
+++ b/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python-multicontainer/01-assert.yaml
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ spec:
       value: /otel-auto-instrumentation/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation:/otel-auto-instrumentation
     - name: OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER
       value: otlp_proto_http
+    - name: OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER
+      value: none
     - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT
       value: http://localhost:4317
     - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TIMEOUT
@@ -42,6 +44,8 @@ spec:
       value: /otel-auto-instrumentation/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation:/otel-auto-instrumentation
     - name: OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER
       value: otlp_proto_http
+    - name: OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER
+      value: none
     - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT
       value: http://localhost:4317
     - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TIMEOUT
@@ -65,4 +69,4 @@ spec:
       name: opentelemetry-auto-instrumentation
   - name: otc-container
 status:
-  phase: Running
\ No newline at end of file
+  phase: Running
diff --git a/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python-multicontainer/02-assert.yaml b/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python-multicontainer/02-assert.yaml
index 66335224b4..3bfcbfcc35 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python-multicontainer/02-assert.yaml
+++ b/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python-multicontainer/02-assert.yaml
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ spec:
       value: /otel-auto-instrumentation/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation:/otel-auto-instrumentation
     - name: OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER
       value: otlp_proto_http
+    - name: OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER
+      value: none
     - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT
       value: http://localhost:4317
     - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TIMEOUT
diff --git a/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python/01-assert.yaml b/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python/01-assert.yaml
index c0336b0e3f..a1eb66123c 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python/01-assert.yaml
+++ b/tests/e2e/instrumentation-python/01-assert.yaml
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ spec:
       value: http://localhost:4317
     - name: PYTHONPATH
       value: "/otel-auto-instrumentation/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation:/otel-auto-instrumentation"
+    - name: OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER
+      value: none
     - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TIMEOUT
       value: "20"
     - name: OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER