diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/CHANGELOG.md b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/CHANGELOG.md
index 940554b92da4..b3ccb76a30e1 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 ## 1.8.8 (Unreleased)
 
 ### Features Added
+- Set `AZURE_MONITOR_DISTRO_VERSION` environment variable to pass distro version to the exporter
+  ([#46666](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-python/pull/46666))
 
 ### Breaking Changes
 
diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/_constants.py b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/_constants.py
index 2823f173894a..3226e413928d 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/_constants.py
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/_constants.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter._constants import (  # pylint: disable=import-error,no-name-in-module
+    _AZURE_MONITOR_DISTRO_VERSION,
     _AZURE_MONITOR_DISTRO_VERSION_ARG,
 )
 
diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/_utils/configurations.py b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/_utils/configurations.py
index f323ddffcb01..d6a1c889932b 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/_utils/configurations.py
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/_utils/configurations.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 from azure.monitor.opentelemetry._constants import (
     _AZURE_APP_SERVICE_RESOURCE_DETECTOR_NAME,
     _AZURE_VM_RESOURCE_DETECTOR_NAME,
+    _AZURE_MONITOR_DISTRO_VERSION,
     _FULLY_SUPPORTED_INSTRUMENTED_LIBRARIES,
     _PREVIEW_INSTRUMENTED_LIBRARIES,
     BROWSER_SDK_LOADER_CONFIG_ARG,
@@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ def _get_configurations(**kwargs) -> Dict[str, ConfigurationValue]:
     for key, val in kwargs.items():
         configurations[key] = val
     configurations[DISTRO_VERSION_ARG] = VERSION
+    environ[_AZURE_MONITOR_DISTRO_VERSION] = VERSION
 
     _default_disable_logging(configurations)
     _default_disable_metrics(configurations)
diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/tests/utils/test_configurations.py b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/tests/utils/test_configurations.py
index 81caeeda6faf..91cc3e5308b0 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/tests/utils/test_configurations.py
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry/tests/utils/test_configurations.py
@@ -804,6 +804,12 @@ def test_get_configurations_env_vars_parentbased_trace_id_ratio_non_numeric_valu
         self.assertEqual(configurations["sampling_arg"], 1.0)
         self.assertEqual(configurations["sampler_type"], "parentbased_trace_id_ratio")
 
+    @patch.dict("os.environ", {}, clear=True)
+    @patch("opentelemetry.sdk.resources.Resource.create", return_value=TEST_DEFAULT_RESOURCE)
+    def test_get_configurations_sets_distro_version_env_var(self, resource_create_mock):
+        _get_configurations()
+        self.assertEqual(environ.get("AZURE_MONITOR_DISTRO_VERSION"), VERSION)
+
     @patch.dict(
         "os.environ",
         {