diff --git a/rdflib/plugins/sparql/sparql.py b/rdflib/plugins/sparql/sparql.py
index e4cd124df2..f5cd8455df 100644
--- a/rdflib/plugins/sparql/sparql.py
+++ b/rdflib/plugins/sparql/sparql.py
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 
 from six import text_type, iteritems
 
+import isodate
+
 from rdflib.namespace import NamespaceManager
 from rdflib import Variable, BNode, Graph, ConjunctiveGraph, URIRef, Literal
 from rdflib.term import Node
@@ -242,7 +244,7 @@ def __init__(self, graph=None, bindings=None, initBindings=None):
             self.graph = graph
 
         self.prologue = None
-        self.now = datetime.datetime.now()
+        self.now = datetime.datetime.now(isodate.tzinfo.UTC)
 
         self.bnodes = collections.defaultdict(BNode)