diff --git a/src/global/global_init.cc b/src/global/global_init.cc
index 97265040061..1c60534d379 100644
--- a/src/global/global_init.cc
+++ b/src/global/global_init.cc
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ void global_pre_init(
   std::string conf_file_list;
   std::string cluster = "";
 
+  // ensure environment arguments are included in early processing
+  env_to_vec(args);
+
   CephInitParameters iparams = ceph_argparse_early_args(
     args, module_type,
     &cluster, &conf_file_list);