diff --git a/recipes/fdb/5.18/environments.yaml b/recipes/fdb/5.18/environments.yaml
index 34350cd..06b8ebd 100644
--- a/recipes/fdb/5.18/environments.yaml
+++ b/recipes/fdb/5.18/environments.yaml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ fdb:
   - gribjump@=0.10.2
   - eckit@=1.32.3 linalg=none
   - metkit@=1.15.2-levelist
-  - eccodes@=2.39.5 jp2k=none ~fortran +pthreads +aec
+  - eccodes@=2.44 jp2k=none ~fortran +pthreads +aec
   - ecbuild@=3.12.0
   - python@=3.11.6
   variants:
diff --git a/recipes/fdb/5.18/post-install b/recipes/fdb/5.18/post-install
index 07bc76d..59c16be 100755
--- a/recipes/fdb/5.18/post-install
+++ b/recipes/fdb/5.18/post-install
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ rm -rf  /user-environment/venvs/
 mkdir -p /user-environment/venvs/
 $python_exe -m venv /user-environment/venvs/fdb
 source /user-environment/venvs/fdb/bin/activate
+export DEPEND_ON_ECCODESLIB=0
 /user-environment/bin/poetry install
 popd
 
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ do
     jq --arg view "$view" '.views[$view].env.values.list.GRIB_DEFINITION_PATH = [{"op":"prepend","value":["/user-environment/data/share/eccodes-cosmo-mars/definitions", "/user-environment/data/share/definitions.edzw-2.38.3-1","/user-environment/env/fdb/share/eccodes/definitions"]}]' store/meta/env.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json store/meta/env.json
     jq --arg view "$view" '.views[$view].env.values.list.PATH[0].value |= ["/user-environment/venvs/fdb/bin/"] + .' store/meta/env.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json store/meta/env.json
     jq --arg view "$view" '.views[$view].env.values.list.FDB_ENABLE_GRIBJUMP = [{"op":"set","value":"1"}]' store/meta/env.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json store/meta/env.json
+    jq --arg view "$view" '.views[$view].env.values.list.ECCODES_DIR = [{"op":"set","value":["/user-environment/env/$view"]}]' store/meta/env.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json store/meta/env.json
     jq --arg view "$view" '.views[$view].env.values.list.AUTO_LOAD_PLUGINS = [{"op":"set","value":"1"}]' store/meta/env.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json store/meta/env.json
     jq --arg view "$view" --arg env "/user-environment/env/$view" '.views[$view].env.values.list.ECKIT_HOME = [{"op":"set","value":[$env]}]' store/meta/env.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json store/meta/env.json
     jq --arg view "$view" --arg config_file "$config_file" '.views[$view].env.values.list.FDB5_CONFIG_FILE = [{"op":"prepend","value":[$config_file]}]' store/meta/env.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json store/meta/env.json
diff --git a/recipes/fdb/5.18/repo/packages/eccodes/package.py b/recipes/fdb/5.18/repo/packages/eccodes/package.py
index 836b865..aa821d7 100644
--- a/recipes/fdb/5.18/repo/packages/eccodes/package.py
+++ b/recipes/fdb/5.18/repo/packages/eccodes/package.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ class Eccodes(CMakePackage):
 
     version("develop", branch="develop")
 
+    version("2.44.0", sha256="c75fb1f91b765b6b8b4774632a8a6fbcec96934db015fb63c2ad2560aedd443b")
     version("2.42.0", sha256="60371b357cb011dee546db2eabace5b7e27f0f87d3ea4a5adde7891371b3c128")
     version("2.39.5", git="https://github.com/ecmwf/eccodes.git", tag="2.39.5")
     version("2.39.0", sha256="0c4d746700acc49af9c878925f1b26bdd42443ff7c2d7c676deb2babb6847afb")