diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/51495-k8s-load-envvars.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/51495-k8s-load-envvars.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f23c6a06a81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/51495-k8s-load-envvars.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+- All K8S_AUTH_* environment variables are now properly loaded by the k8s lookup plugin
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/k8s/common.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/k8s/common.py
index 1488fc211bb..a83885b8904 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/k8s/common.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/k8s/common.py
@@ -138,11 +138,11 @@ class K8sAnsibleMixin(object):
         auth = copy.deepcopy(auth_params)
 
         # If authorization variables aren't defined, look for them in environment variables
-        for key, value in iteritems(auth_params):
-            if key in auth_args and value is None:
-                env_value = os.getenv('K8S_AUTH_{0}'.format(key.upper()), None)
+        for arg in auth_args:
+            if auth_params.get(arg) is None:
+                env_value = os.getenv('K8S_AUTH_{0}'.format(arg.upper()), None)
                 if env_value is not None:
-                    auth[key] = env_value
+                    auth[arg] = env_value
 
         def auth_set(*names):
             return all([auth.get(name) for name in names])