Index: maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/cli/MavenCliTest.java
===================================================================
--- maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/cli/MavenCliTest.java	(revision 608904)
+++ maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/cli/MavenCliTest.java	(working copy)
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Properties;
 
 import org.codehaus.classworlds.ClassWorld;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.StringOutputStream;
@@ -79,4 +80,25 @@
             System.setErr( oldOut );
         }
     }
+    
+    public void testGetExecutionProperties() 
+    throws Exception
+    {
+        System.setProperty( "test.property.1", "1.0" );
+        System.setProperty( "test.property.2", "2.0" );
+        Properties p = MavenCli.getExecutionProperties((new MavenCli.CLIManager()).parse(new String[] 
+           {
+            "-Dtest.property.2=2.1",
+            "-Dtest.property.3=3.0"
+           }));
+        
+        // assume that everybody has a PATH env var
+        assertNotNull(p.getProperty("env.PATH"));
+        
+        assertEquals("1.0",p.getProperty("test.property.1")); 
+        assertEquals("3.0",p.getProperty("test.property.3"));
+        
+        // sys props should override cmdline props
+        assertEquals("2.0",p.getProperty("test.property.2")); 
+    }
 }
Index: maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cli/MavenCli.java
===================================================================
--- maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cli/MavenCli.java	(revision 608904)
+++ maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cli/MavenCli.java	(working copy)
@@ -23,9 +23,11 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.StringTokenizer;
+import java.util.Map.Entry;
 
 import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLineParser;
@@ -63,6 +65,7 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.logging.Logger;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.logging.LoggerManager;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.Os;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.util.cli.CommandLineUtils;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.pull.XmlPullParserException;
 
 /**
@@ -221,7 +224,7 @@
                 // TODO:Additionally, we can't change the mojo level because the component key includes the version and it isn't known ahead of time. This seems worth changing.
             }
 
-            ProfileManager profileManager = new DefaultProfileManager( embedder.getContainer(),System.getProperties() );
+            ProfileManager profileManager = new DefaultProfileManager( embedder.getContainer(), executionProperties );
 
             if ( commandLine.hasOption( CLIManager.ACTIVATE_PROFILES ) )
             {
@@ -561,10 +564,24 @@
     // System properties handling
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-    private static Properties getExecutionProperties( CommandLine commandLine )
+    static Properties getExecutionProperties( CommandLine commandLine )
     {
         Properties executionProperties = new Properties();
 
+        // add the env vars to the property set, with the "env." prefix
+        // XXX support for env vars should probably be removed from the ModelInterpolator
+        try {
+            Properties envVars = CommandLineUtils.getSystemEnvVars();
+            Iterator i = envVars.entrySet().iterator();
+            while(i.hasNext()) {
+                Entry e = (Entry)i.next();
+                executionProperties.setProperty("env."+e.getKey().toString(), e.getValue().toString());
+            }
+        }
+        catch (IOException e) {
+            System.err.println("Error getting environment vars for profile activation: "+e);
+        }
+        
         // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
         // Options that are set on the command line become system properties
         // and therefore are set in the session properties. System properties
@@ -608,13 +625,6 @@
         }
 
         executionProperties.setProperty( name, value );
-
-        // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-        // I'm leaving the setting of system properties here as not to break
-        // the SystemPropertyProfileActivator. This won't harm embedding. jvz.
-        // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-        System.setProperty( name, value );
     }
 
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------------