diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ascent/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ascent/package.py
index a8d2c245e0..4deae84ec1 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ascent/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ascent/package.py
@@ -352,6 +352,23 @@ def create_host_config(self, spec, prefix, py_site_pkgs_dir=None):
         else:
             cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("BUILD_SHARED_LIBS", "OFF"))
 
+        # use global spack compiler flags
+        cppflags = ' '.join(spec.compiler_flags['cppflags'])
+        if cppflags:
+            # avoid always ending up with ' ' with no flags defined
+            cppflags += ' '
+        cflags = cppflags + ' '.join(spec.compiler_flags['cflags'])
+        if cflags:
+            cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("CMAKE_C_FLAGS", cflags))
+        cxxflags = cppflags + ' '.join(spec.compiler_flags['cxxflags'])
+        if cxxflags:
+            cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS", cxxflags))
+        fflags = ' '.join(spec.compiler_flags['fflags'])
+        if self.spec.satisfies('%cce'):
+            fflags += " -ef"
+        if fflags:
+            cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS", fflags))
+
         #######################
         # Unit Tests
         #######################