diff --git a/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py b/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
index d34023a1c3c..77b9f4b5f85 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0]), '../..'))
 os.chdir(ROOT)
 
 
+_FORCE_ENVIRON_FOR_WRAPPERS = {}
+
+
 # SimpleConfig: just compile with CONFIG=config, and run the binary to test
 class SimpleConfig(object):
 
@@ -146,7 +149,7 @@ class NodeLanguage(object):
 
   def test_specs(self, config, travis):
     return [config.job_spec(['tools/run_tests/run_node.sh'], None,
-                            environ={'GRPC_TRACE': 'surface,batch'})]
+                            environ=_FORCE_ENVIRON_FOR_WRAPPERS)]
 
   def make_targets(self):
     return ['static_c', 'shared_c']
@@ -165,7 +168,7 @@ class PhpLanguage(object):
 
   def test_specs(self, config, travis):
     return [config.job_spec(['src/php/bin/run_tests.sh'], None,
-                            environ={'GRPC_TRACE': 'surface,batch'})]
+                            environ=_FORCE_ENVIRON_FOR_WRAPPERS)]
 
   def make_targets(self):
     return ['static_c', 'shared_c']
@@ -190,13 +193,13 @@ class PythonLanguage(object):
     modules = [config.job_spec(['tools/run_tests/run_python.sh', '-m',
                                 test['module']],
                                None,
-                               environ={'GRPC_TRACE': 'surface,batch'},
+                               environ=_FORCE_ENVIRON_FOR_WRAPPERS,
                                shortname=test['module'])
                for test in self._tests if 'module' in test]
     files = [config.job_spec(['tools/run_tests/run_python.sh',
                               test['file']],
                              None,
-                             environ={'GRPC_TRACE': 'surface,batch'},
+                             environ=_FORCE_ENVIRON_FOR_WRAPPERS,
                              shortname=test['file'])
             for test in self._tests if 'file' in test]
     return files + modules
@@ -218,7 +221,7 @@ class RubyLanguage(object):
 
   def test_specs(self, config, travis):
     return [config.job_spec(['tools/run_tests/run_ruby.sh'], None,
-                            environ={'GRPC_TRACE': 'surface,batch'})]
+                            environ=_FORCE_ENVIRON_FOR_WRAPPERS)]
 
   def make_targets(self):
     return ['run_dep_checks']
@@ -251,7 +254,7 @@ class CSharpLanguage(object):
       cmd = 'tools/run_tests/run_csharp.sh'
     return [config.job_spec([cmd, assembly],
             None, shortname=assembly,
-            environ={'GRPC_TRACE': 'surface,batch'})
+            environ=_FORCE_ENVIRON_FOR_WRAPPERS)
             for assembly in assemblies ]
 
   def make_targets(self):
@@ -402,6 +405,9 @@ run_configs = set(_CONFIGS[cfg]
                       for x in args.config))
 build_configs = set(cfg.build_config for cfg in run_configs)
 
+if args.travis:
+  _FORCE_ENVIRON_FOR_WRAPPERS = {'GRPC_TRACE': 'surface,batch'}
+
 make_targets = []
 languages = set(_LANGUAGES[l]
                 for l in itertools.chain.from_iterable(