diff --git a/bootstrap/kubeadm/main.go b/bootstrap/kubeadm/main.go
index 624afdf7d333..819a5c31ccec 100644
--- a/bootstrap/kubeadm/main.go
+++ b/bootstrap/kubeadm/main.go
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ func main() {
 	InitFlags(pflag.CommandLine)
 	pflag.CommandLine.SetNormalizeFunc(cliflag.WordSepNormalizeFunc)
 	pflag.CommandLine.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
+	// Set log level 2 as default.
+	if err := pflag.CommandLine.Set("v", "2"); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "failed to set log level: %v")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	pflag.Parse()
 
 	if err := logsv1.ValidateAndApply(logOptions, nil); err != nil {
diff --git a/controlplane/kubeadm/main.go b/controlplane/kubeadm/main.go
index 4b4e40670acb..f9a6bfab188f 100644
--- a/controlplane/kubeadm/main.go
+++ b/controlplane/kubeadm/main.go
@@ -169,6 +169,11 @@ func main() {
 	InitFlags(pflag.CommandLine)
 	pflag.CommandLine.SetNormalizeFunc(cliflag.WordSepNormalizeFunc)
 	pflag.CommandLine.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
+	// Set log level 2 as default.
+	if err := pflag.CommandLine.Set("v", "2"); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "failed to set log level: %v")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	pflag.Parse()
 
 	if err := logsv1.ValidateAndApply(logOptions, nil); err != nil {
diff --git a/docs/book/src/developer/logging.md b/docs/book/src/developer/logging.md
index 1da2b7e34daf..da39f7531c65 100644
--- a/docs/book/src/developer/logging.md
+++ b/docs/book/src/developer/logging.md
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ for log levels; as a small integration on the above guidelines we would like to
   the code; a person reading those logs usually has deep knowledge of the codebase. 
 - Don’t use verbosity higher than 5.
 
-Ideally, in a future release of Cluster API we will switch to use 2 as a default verbosity (currently it is 0) for all the Cluster API
+We are using log level 2 as a default verbosity for all core Cluster API
 controllers as recommended by the Kubernetes guidelines.
 
 ## Trade-offs
diff --git a/docs/book/src/tasks/experimental-features/runtime-sdk/implement-extensions.md b/docs/book/src/tasks/experimental-features/runtime-sdk/implement-extensions.md
index a4c1f7b68816..cf81e06304ce 100644
--- a/docs/book/src/tasks/experimental-features/runtime-sdk/implement-extensions.md
+++ b/docs/book/src/tasks/experimental-features/runtime-sdk/implement-extensions.md
@@ -95,6 +95,11 @@ func main() {
 	InitFlags(pflag.CommandLine)
 	pflag.CommandLine.SetNormalizeFunc(cliflag.WordSepNormalizeFunc)
 	pflag.CommandLine.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
+	// Set log level 2 as default.
+	if err := pflag.CommandLine.Set("v", "2"); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "failed to set log level: %v")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	pflag.Parse()
 
 	// Validates logs flags using Kubernetes component-base machinery and applies them
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index bf46399b8804..7cb437958372 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -228,6 +228,11 @@ func main() {
 	InitFlags(pflag.CommandLine)
 	pflag.CommandLine.SetNormalizeFunc(cliflag.WordSepNormalizeFunc)
 	pflag.CommandLine.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
+	// Set log level 2 as default.
+	if err := pflag.CommandLine.Set("v", "2"); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "failed to set log level: %v")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	pflag.Parse()
 
 	if err := logsv1.ValidateAndApply(logOptions, nil); err != nil {
diff --git a/test/extension/main.go b/test/extension/main.go
index 9d64f9711113..82af08549d13 100644
--- a/test/extension/main.go
+++ b/test/extension/main.go
@@ -106,6 +106,11 @@ func main() {
 	InitFlags(pflag.CommandLine)
 	pflag.CommandLine.SetNormalizeFunc(cliflag.WordSepNormalizeFunc)
 	pflag.CommandLine.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
+	// Set log level 2 as default.
+	if err := pflag.CommandLine.Set("v", "2"); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "failed to set log level: %v")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	pflag.Parse()
 
 	// Validates logs flags using Kubernetes component-base machinery and apply them
diff --git a/test/infrastructure/docker/main.go b/test/infrastructure/docker/main.go
index ac1ab3e3ce8c..f87d8c777fab 100644
--- a/test/infrastructure/docker/main.go
+++ b/test/infrastructure/docker/main.go
@@ -167,6 +167,11 @@ func main() {
 	initFlags(pflag.CommandLine)
 	pflag.CommandLine.SetNormalizeFunc(cliflag.WordSepNormalizeFunc)
 	pflag.CommandLine.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
+	// Set log level 2 as default.
+	if err := pflag.CommandLine.Set("v", "2"); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "failed to set log level: %v")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	pflag.Parse()
 
 	if err := logsv1.ValidateAndApply(logOptions, nil); err != nil {
diff --git a/test/infrastructure/inmemory/main.go b/test/infrastructure/inmemory/main.go
index 595f58549062..577a513ad22c 100644
--- a/test/infrastructure/inmemory/main.go
+++ b/test/infrastructure/inmemory/main.go
@@ -159,6 +159,11 @@ func main() {
 	InitFlags(pflag.CommandLine)
 	pflag.CommandLine.SetNormalizeFunc(cliflag.WordSepNormalizeFunc)
 	pflag.CommandLine.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
+	// Set log level 2 as default.
+	if err := pflag.CommandLine.Set("v", "2"); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "failed to set log level: %v")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	pflag.Parse()
 
 	if err := logsv1.ValidateAndApply(logOptions, nil); err != nil {