diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/environment.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/environment.py
index abff28d30ea..8c6ff19c536 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/environment.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/environment.py
@@ -450,6 +450,31 @@ def _trace(self) -> Optional[Trace]:
 
         return Trace(filename=filename, lineno=lineno, context=current_context)
 
+    @contextlib.contextmanager
+    def set_env(self, env: Optional[MutableMapping[str, str]] = None):
+        """Temporarily sets and restores environment variables.
+
+        Args:
+            env: environment to be modified. If None, os.environ will be used.
+        """
+        env = os.environ if env is None else env
+
+        saved = {}
+        for var, value in self.group_by_name().items():
+            if var in env:
+                saved[var] = env[var]
+
+        self.apply_modifications(env)
+
+        yield
+
+        for var, value in self.group_by_name().items():
+            if var in saved:
+                env[var] = saved[var]
+            else:
+                if var in env:
+                    del env[var]
+
     @system_env_normalize
     def set(self, name: str, value: str, *, force: bool = False, raw: bool = False):
         """Stores a request to set an environment variable.