diff --git a/src/Cli/Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Definitions/Common/CommonOptions.cs b/src/Cli/Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Definitions/Common/CommonOptions.cs
index fb71ab59bf6b..b3c9b952f58f 100644
--- a/src/Cli/Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Definitions/Common/CommonOptions.cs
+++ b/src/Cli/Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Definitions/Common/CommonOptions.cs
@@ -201,7 +201,12 @@ public static Option<bool> CreateUseCurrentRuntimeOption(string description) =>
         {
             Description = description,
             HelpName = CommandDefinitionStrings.ConfigurationArgumentName,
-            IsDynamic = true
+            IsDynamic = true,
+            DefaultValueFactory = _ =>
+            {
+                string? configuration = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration");
+                return string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(configuration) ? null : configuration;
+            }
         }.ForwardAsSingle(o => $"--property:Configuration={o}");
 
     public static Option<string> CreateVersionSuffixOption() =>
@@ -380,4 +385,3 @@ public static void ValidateSelfContainedOptions(bool hasSelfContainedOption, boo
         Arity = ArgumentArity.Zero
     };
 }
-
diff --git a/src/Cli/Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Definitions/Help/HelpBuilder.cs b/src/Cli/Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Definitions/Help/HelpBuilder.cs
index 4b79d871777c..4975f91d6c65 100644
--- a/src/Cli/Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Definitions/Help/HelpBuilder.cs
+++ b/src/Cli/Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Definitions/Help/HelpBuilder.cs
@@ -253,8 +253,10 @@ string GetSymbolDefaultValue(Symbol symbol)
 
             var isSingleArgument = defaultArguments.Length == 1;
             var argumentDefaultValues = defaultArguments
-                .Select(argument => GetArgumentDefaultValue(symbol, argument, isSingleArgument, context));
-            return $"[{string.Join(", ", argumentDefaultValues)}]";
+                .Select(argument => GetArgumentDefaultValue(symbol, argument, isSingleArgument, context))
+                .Where(value => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value))
+                .ToArray();
+            return argumentDefaultValues.Length == 0 ? "" : $"[{string.Join(", ", argumentDefaultValues)}]";
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/test/dotnet.Tests/CliSchemaTests.cs b/test/dotnet.Tests/CliSchemaTests.cs
index 467d3cbc609b..e897f372b3d4 100644
--- a/test/dotnet.Tests/CliSchemaTests.cs
+++ b/test/dotnet.Tests/CliSchemaTests.cs
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ public CliSchemaTests()
       ],
       "helpName": "CONFIGURATION",
       "valueType": "System.String",
-      "hasDefaultValue": false,
+      "hasDefaultValue": true,
       "arity": {
         "minimum": 1,
         "maximum": 1
@@ -799,7 +799,7 @@ public CliSchemaTests()
       ],
       "helpName": "CONFIGURATION",
       "valueType": "System.String",
-      "hasDefaultValue": false,
+      "hasDefaultValue": true,
       "arity": {
         "minimum": 1,
         "maximum": 1
diff --git a/test/dotnet.Tests/CommandTests/Test/GivenDotnetTestBuildsAndRunsTestsWithDifferentOptions.cs b/test/dotnet.Tests/CommandTests/Test/GivenDotnetTestBuildsAndRunsTestsWithDifferentOptions.cs
index 2e139459aab6..e995ea20d5ac 100644
--- a/test/dotnet.Tests/CommandTests/Test/GivenDotnetTestBuildsAndRunsTestsWithDifferentOptions.cs
+++ b/test/dotnet.Tests/CommandTests/Test/GivenDotnetTestBuildsAndRunsTestsWithDifferentOptions.cs
@@ -55,6 +55,21 @@ public void RunWithSolutionPathWithFailingTests_ShouldReturnExitCodeAtLeastOneTe
             result.ExitCode.Should().Be(ExitCodes.AtLeastOneTestFailed);
         }
 
+        [TestMethod]
+        public void RunWithSolutionPath_ShouldUseConfigurationEnvironmentVariable()
+        {
+            TestAsset testInstance = TestAssetsManager.CopyTestAsset("MultiTestProjectSolutionWithTests", Guid.NewGuid().ToString()).WithSource();
+
+            CommandResult result = new DotnetTestCommand(Log, disableNewOutput: false)
+                                    .WithWorkingDirectory(testInstance.Path)
+                                    .WithEnvironmentVariable("Configuration", TestingConstants.Release)
+                                    .Execute("--solution", "MultiTestProjectSolutionWithTests.sln");
+
+            Assert.MatchesRegex(RegexPatternHelper.GenerateProjectRegexPattern("TestProject", TestingConstants.Failed, true, TestingConstants.Release), result.StdOut);
+            Assert.MatchesRegex(RegexPatternHelper.GenerateProjectRegexPattern("OtherTestProject", TestingConstants.Passed, true, TestingConstants.Release), result.StdOut);
+            result.ExitCode.Should().Be(ExitCodes.AtLeastOneTestFailed);
+        }
+
         [TestMethod, CombinatorialData]
         public void RunWithSolutionFilterPathWithFailingTests_ShouldReturnExitCodeGenericFailure(
             [CombinatorialValues(TestingConstants.Debug, TestingConstants.Release)] string configuration,
diff --git a/test/dotnet.Tests/ParserTests/CommonOptionsTests.cs b/test/dotnet.Tests/ParserTests/CommonOptionsTests.cs
index 2419e57e9d0c..d098fc233ce3 100644
--- a/test/dotnet.Tests/ParserTests/CommonOptionsTests.cs
+++ b/test/dotnet.Tests/ParserTests/CommonOptionsTests.cs
@@ -3,12 +3,87 @@
 
 using System.CommandLine;
 using Microsoft.DotNet.Cli;
+using Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.CommandLine;
 
 namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tests.ParserTests;
 
 [TestClass]
 public class CommonOptionsTests
 {
+    [TestMethod]
+    public void ConfigurationDefaultsToEnvironmentVariable()
+    {
+        string? originalConfiguration = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration");
+
+        try
+        {
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration", "EnvironmentConfiguration");
+            var command = new RootCommand();
+            var option = CommonOptions.CreateConfigurationOption("Configuration");
+            command.Options.Add(option);
+
+            var result = command.Parse([]);
+
+            result.GetValue(option).Should().Be("EnvironmentConfiguration");
+            result.OptionValuesToBeForwarded(command).Should().ContainSingle()
+                .Which.Should().Be("--property:Configuration=EnvironmentConfiguration");
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration", originalConfiguration);
+        }
+    }
+
+    [TestMethod]
+    public void ExplicitConfigurationOverridesEnvironmentVariable()
+    {
+        string? originalConfiguration = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration");
+
+        try
+        {
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration", "EnvironmentConfiguration");
+            var command = new RootCommand();
+            var option = CommonOptions.CreateConfigurationOption("Configuration");
+            command.Options.Add(option);
+
+            var result = command.Parse(["--configuration", "ExplicitConfiguration"]);
+
+            result.GetValue(option).Should().Be("ExplicitConfiguration");
+            result.OptionValuesToBeForwarded(command).Should().ContainSingle()
+                .Which.Should().Be("--property:Configuration=ExplicitConfiguration");
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration", originalConfiguration);
+        }
+    }
+
+    [TestMethod]
+    [DataRow("")]
+    [DataRow(" ")]
+    [DataRow("\t")]
+    public void EmptyOrWhitespaceConfigurationEnvironmentVariableIsIgnored(string configuration)
+    {
+        string? originalConfiguration = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration");
+
+        try
+        {
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration", configuration);
+            var command = new RootCommand();
+            var option = CommonOptions.CreateConfigurationOption("Configuration");
+            command.Options.Add(option);
+
+            var result = command.Parse([]);
+
+            result.GetValue(option).Should().BeNull();
+            result.OptionValuesToBeForwarded(command).Should().BeEmpty();
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("Configuration", originalConfiguration);
+        }
+    }
+
     [TestMethod]
     public void Duplicates()
     {