diff --git a/bin/semantic-release.js b/bin/semantic-release.js
index 05024908..e7ab35de 100755
--- a/bin/semantic-release.js
+++ b/bin/semantic-release.js
@@ -3,11 +3,15 @@
 // Bad news: We have to write plain ES5 in this file
 // Good news: It's the only file of the entire project
 
-/* eslint-disable no-var */
+/* eslint-disable no-var, promise/prefer-await-to-then, prefer-destructuring */
 
 var semver = require('semver');
+var execa = require('execa');
+var findVersions = require('find-versions');
 var pkg = require('../package.json');
 
+var MIN_GIT_VERSION = '2.0.0';
+
 if (!semver.satisfies(process.version, pkg.engines.node)) {
   console.error(
     `[semantic-release]: node version ${pkg.engines.node} is required. Found ${process.version}.
@@ -17,6 +21,21 @@ See https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release/blob/caribou/docs/suppo
   process.exit(1);
 }
 
+execa
+  .stdout('git', ['--version'])
+  .then(stdout => {
+    var gitVersion = findVersions(stdout)[0];
+    if (semver.lt(gitVersion, MIN_GIT_VERSION)) {
+      console.error(`[semantic-release]: Git version ${MIN_GIT_VERSION} is required. Found ${gitVersion}.`);
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+  })
+  .catch(err => {
+    console.error(`[semantic-release]: Git version ${MIN_GIT_VERSION} is required. No git binary found.`);
+    console.error(err);
+    process.exit(1);
+  });
+
 // Node 8+ from this point on
 require('../cli')().catch(() => {
   process.exitCode = 1;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b3e570f1..77e1d5b2 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     "debug": "^3.1.0",
     "env-ci": "^2.0.0",
     "execa": "^0.10.0",
+    "find-versions": "^2.0.0",
     "get-stream": "^3.0.0",
     "git-log-parser": "^1.2.0",
     "git-url-parse": "^9.0.0",