diff --git a/site/en/reference/test-encyclopedia.md b/site/en/reference/test-encyclopedia.md
index c6d4642e62a83e..5e94c0e21eb03e 100644
--- a/site/en/reference/test-encyclopedia.md
+++ b/site/en/reference/test-encyclopedia.md
@@ -452,6 +452,11 @@ The initial environment block shall be composed as follows:
class="external">JUnit test result schema.
optional |
+
+ BAZEL_TEST |
+ Signifies test executable is being driven by bazel test |
+ required |
+
The environment may contain additional entries. Tests should not depend on the
diff --git a/tools/test/test-setup.sh b/tools/test/test-setup.sh
index 182507fcdb57e0..1cc73137d75653 100755
--- a/tools/test/test-setup.sh
+++ b/tools/test/test-setup.sh
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@ function is_absolute {
# root.
EXEC_ROOT="$PWD"
+# Declare that the executable is running in a `bazel test` environment
+# This allows test frameworks to enable output to the unprefixed environment variable
+# For example, if `BAZEL_TEST` and `XML_OUTPUT_FILE` are defined, write JUnit output
+export BAZEL_TEST=1
+
# Bazel sets some environment vars to relative paths to improve caching and
# support remote execution, where the absolute path may not be known to Bazel.
# Convert them to absolute paths here before running the actual test.