diff --git a/libs/ardour/ardour/lua_api.h b/libs/ardour/ardour/lua_api.h
index 61415400d7..33f79a7b02 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/ardour/lua_api.h
+++ b/libs/ardour/ardour/lua_api.h
@@ -273,6 +273,9 @@ namespace ARDOUR { namespace LuaAPI {
 	/** Crash Test Dummy */
 	void segfault ();
 
+	/** Return system environment variables (POSIX environ) */
+	std::vector<std::string> env ();
+
 	class Vamp {
 	/** Vamp Plugin Interface
 	 *
diff --git a/libs/ardour/lua_api.cc b/libs/ardour/lua_api.cc
index e1a7e3c8c6..b802d65eb9 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/lua_api.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/lua_api.cc
@@ -552,6 +552,28 @@ ARDOUR::LuaAPI::segfault ()
 	*p = 0;
 }
 
+#ifdef PLATFORM_WINDOWS
+std::vector<std::string>
+ARDOUR::LuaAPI::env ()
+{
+	std::vector<std::string> rv;
+	return rv;
+}
+
+#else
+extern char **environ;
+
+std::vector<std::string>
+ARDOUR::LuaAPI::env ()
+{
+	std::vector<std::string> rv;
+	for (int i = 0; environ[i]; ++i) {
+		rv.push_back (environ[i]);
+	}
+	return rv;
+}
+#endif
+
 int
 ARDOUR::LuaOSC::Address::send (lua_State *L)
 {
diff --git a/libs/ardour/luabindings.cc b/libs/ardour/luabindings.cc
index 877b1101a8..7396f57f49 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/luabindings.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/luabindings.cc
@@ -2955,6 +2955,7 @@ LuaBindings::common (lua_State* L)
 		.addCFunction ("timecode_to_sample", ARDOUR::LuaAPI::timecode_to_sample)
 		.addFunction ("wait_for_process_callback", ARDOUR::LuaAPI::wait_for_process_callback)
 		.addFunction ("segfault", ARDOUR::LuaAPI::segfault)
+		.addFunction ("env", ARDOUR::LuaAPI::env)
 
 		.beginNamespace ("FileTest")
 		.addConst ("IsRegular", Glib::FILE_TEST_IS_REGULAR)