An environment variable in Python is a value stored in the operating system (like Windows, Linux, or Mac OS) that can be used to configure and convey information to running programs. Since Python programs run within an operating system, they can access these environment variables through the `os.environ` object in Python’s `os` module. Programmers often use environment variables to store sensitive data, such as database passwords or API keys, because they can be kept separate from the program’s code base.
