diff --git a/cmip6_preprocessing/preprocessing.py b/cmip6_preprocessing/preprocessing.py
index 7306dedc..8b855429 100644
--- a/cmip6_preprocessing/preprocessing.py
+++ b/cmip6_preprocessing/preprocessing.py
@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@ def _invert_dict(rdict):
     return exploded_dict
 
 
+def _parse_cf(dataset):
+    dataset = dataset.cf.guess_coord_axis()
+    return dataset
+
 def rename_cmip6(ds, rename_dict=None):
     """Homogenizes cmip6 dataasets to common naming"""
     ds = ds.copy()
@@ -109,6 +113,8 @@ def _maybe_rename(obj, rdict):
     # restore attributes
     ds.attrs = attrs
 
+    # use cf conventions where they can be inferred by cf_xarray
+    ds = _parse_cf(ds)
     return ds
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_preprocessing.py b/tests/test_preprocessing.py
index 4e2a2a4d..3d96ab15 100644
--- a/tests/test_preprocessing.py
+++ b/tests/test_preprocessing.py
@@ -66,6 +66,12 @@ def test_rename_cmip6(xname, yname, zname, missing_dim):
         assert ylen == len(ds_renamed.y)
     if not missing_dim == "z":
         assert zlen == len(ds_renamed.lev)
+    
+    # check if cf conventions were inferred
+    for dim, axis in [('x', 'X'), ('y', 'Y'), ('lev','Z'), ('time', 'T')]:
+        if dim in ds_renamed.dims:
+            #check that the axis is in the cf object
+            assert axis in ds_renamed.cf.axes.keys()
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("xname", ["i", "x"])
diff --git a/tests/test_preprocessing_cloud.py b/tests/test_preprocessing_cloud.py
index d48d1ef6..704c8247 100644
--- a/tests/test_preprocessing_cloud.py
+++ b/tests/test_preprocessing_cloud.py
@@ -236,6 +236,12 @@ def test_check_dim_coord_values_wo_intake(
             if unit:
                 assert unit == expected_unit
 
+    # check if cf conventions were inferred
+    for dim, axis in [('x', 'X'), ('y', 'Y'), ('lev','Z'), ('time', 'T')]:
+        if dim in ds.dims:
+            #check that the axis is in the cf object
+            assert axis in ds.cf.axes.keys()
+
 
 # this fixture has to be redifined every time to account for different fail cases for each test
 @pytest.fixture