diff --git a/golang/scale.go b/golang/scale.go
index 2a4ee3b..0da323b 100644
--- a/golang/scale.go
+++ b/golang/scale.go
@@ -10,13 +10,13 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"strconv"
-	"time"
 	"strings"
-	"errors"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-lambda-go/events"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-lambda-go/lambda"
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ func handleRequest(_ context.Context, snsEvent events.SNSEvent) {
 	var datapointsRequiredScaleUp, datapointsRequiredScaleDown int64
 	var upThreshold, downThreshold float64
 	var scaleDownMinIterAgeMins int64
+	var minShardCount int64
 	var dryRun = true
 	// Note: Investigate envconfig (https://github.com/kelseyhightower/envconfig) to simplify this environment variable section to have less boilerplate.
 	periodMins, err := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("SCALE_PERIOD_MINS"), 10, 64)
@@ -175,6 +176,14 @@ func handleRequest(_ context.Context, snsEvent events.SNSEvent) {
 		logger.WithError(err).Error(logMessage)
 		errorHandler(err, logMessage, "", false)
 	}
+	minShardCount, err = strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("MIN_SHARD_COUNT"), 10, 64)
+	if err != nil {
+		// Default minimum shard count
+		minShardCount = 1
+		logMessage := "Error reading the MIN_SHARD_COUNT environment variable. Stream will scale down to a minimum of 1 shard."
+		logger.WithError(err).Error(logMessage)
+		errorHandler(err, logMessage, "", false)
+	}
 	dryRun, err = strconv.ParseBool(os.Getenv("DRY_RUN"))
 	if err != nil {
 		// Default dryRun value is true. In case of error while reading this variable, dryRun will be set to true to be on the safer side.
@@ -216,7 +225,7 @@ func handleRequest(_ context.Context, snsEvent events.SNSEvent) {
 	}
 	scaleUpAlarmName, scaleDownAlarmName, currentAlarmAction, lastScaledTimestamp = parseAlarmNameAndTags(*response, currentAlarmName)
 	logger = logger.WithField("ScaleAction", currentAlarmAction)
-	if (currentAlarmAction == "") {
+	if currentAlarmAction == "" {
 		logMessage := fmt.Sprintf("Scaling event was rejected. Could not parse triggering alarm name (%s), should end in -scale-up or -scale-down", currentAlarmName)
 		err = errors.New(logMessage)
 		logger.WithError(err).Error(logMessage)
@@ -261,7 +270,7 @@ func handleRequest(_ context.Context, snsEvent events.SNSEvent) {
 		return
 	}
 	currentShardCount = *((*streamSummary.StreamDescriptionSummary).OpenShardCount)
-	newShardCount, downThreshold = calculateNewShardCount(currentAlarmAction, downThreshold, currentShardCount)
+	newShardCount, downThreshold = calculateNewShardCount(currentAlarmAction, downThreshold, currentShardCount, minShardCount)
 	logger = logger.WithField("CurrentShardCount", currentShardCount).WithField("TargetShardCount", newShardCount)
 	if dryRun {
 		logger.Info("This is dry run. Will not scale the stream.")
@@ -582,7 +591,7 @@ func setAlarmState(alarmName string, state string, reason string) (*cloudwatch.S
 // scaleAction: The scaling action. Possible values are Up and Down
 // downThreshold: The current scaling down threshold. This will be set to -1.0 if the new shard count turns out to be 1
 // currentShardCount: The current open shards in the Kinesis stream
-func calculateNewShardCount(scaleAction string, downThreshold float64, currentShardCount int64) (int64, float64) {
+func calculateNewShardCount(scaleAction string, downThreshold float64, currentShardCount int64, minShardCount int64) (int64, float64) {
 	var targetShardCount int64
 	if scaleAction == "Up" {
 		targetShardCount = currentShardCount * 2
@@ -591,8 +600,8 @@ func calculateNewShardCount(scaleAction string, downThreshold float64, currentSh
 	if scaleAction == "Down" {
 		targetShardCount = currentShardCount / 2
 		// Set to minimum shard count
-		if targetShardCount <= 1 {
-			targetShardCount = 1
+		if targetShardCount <= minShardCount {
+			targetShardCount = minShardCount
 			// At minimum shard count,set the scale down threshold to -1, so that scale down alarm remains in OK state
 			downThreshold = -1.0
 		}
@@ -631,11 +640,11 @@ func parseAlarmNameAndTags(listTags cloudwatch.ListTagsForResourceOutput, curren
 	var scaleDownSuffix = "-scale-down"
 	var scaleUpSuffix = "-scale-up"
 
-	if (strings.HasSuffix(currentAlarmName, scaleUpSuffix)) {
+	if strings.HasSuffix(currentAlarmName, scaleUpSuffix) {
 		currentAlarmAction = "Up"
 		scaleUpAlarmName = currentAlarmName
 		scaleDownAlarmName = currentAlarmName[0:len(currentAlarmName)-len(scaleUpSuffix)] + scaleDownSuffix
-	} else if (strings.HasSuffix(currentAlarmName, scaleDownSuffix)) {
+	} else if strings.HasSuffix(currentAlarmName, scaleDownSuffix) {
 		currentAlarmAction = "Down"
 		scaleUpAlarmName = currentAlarmName[0:len(currentAlarmName)-len(scaleDownSuffix)] + scaleUpSuffix
 		scaleDownAlarmName = currentAlarmName