diff --git a/plugins/auth-backend/src/lib/EnvironmentHandler.ts b/plugins/auth-backend/src/lib/EnvironmentHandler.ts
index 3eab4e793c..c9a182fc05 100644
--- a/plugins/auth-backend/src/lib/EnvironmentHandler.ts
+++ b/plugins/auth-backend/src/lib/EnvironmentHandler.ts
@@ -25,13 +25,28 @@ export class EnvironmentHandler implements AuthProviderRouteHandlers {
   constructor(
     private readonly providerId: string,
     private readonly providers: EnvironmentHandlers,
+    private readonly envIdentifier: (req: express.Request) => string,
   ) {}
 
+  /* Return the value of `env` key, if it is exists, encoded within
+     the `state` parameter in the request
+  */
+  private getEnv(stateParams: Array<string>): string {
+    const envParams = stateParams.filter(
+      param => param.split('=')[0] === 'env',
+    );
+
+    if (envParams.length > 0) {
+      return envParams[0].split('=')[1];
+    }
+    return '';
+  }
+
   private getProviderForEnv(
     req: express.Request,
     res: express.Response,
   ): AuthProviderRouteHandlers | undefined {
-    const env = req.query.env?.toString();
+    const env: string = this.envIdentifier(req);
 
     if (env && this.providers.hasOwnProperty(env)) {
       return this.providers[env];
diff --git a/plugins/auth-backend/src/lib/OAuthProvider.ts b/plugins/auth-backend/src/lib/OAuthProvider.ts
index 7a4a9e2537..ca8872cd95 100644
--- a/plugins/auth-backend/src/lib/OAuthProvider.ts
+++ b/plugins/auth-backend/src/lib/OAuthProvider.ts
@@ -39,6 +39,21 @@ export type Options = {
   tokenIssuer: TokenIssuer;
 };
 
+/* Return the value of `env` key, if it is exists, encoded within
+     the `state` parameter in the request
+  */
+const getEnv = (stateParams: Array<string>): string => {
+  const envParams = stateParams.filter(param => param.split('=')[0] === 'env');
+
+  if (envParams.length > 0) {
+    return envParams[0].split('=')[1];
+  }
+  return '';
+};
+
+const readState = (stateString: string): Array<string> => {
+  return decodeURIComponent(stateString).split('&');
+};
 export const verifyNonce = (req: express.Request, providerId: string) => {
   const cookieNonce = req.cookies[`${providerId}-nonce`];
   const stateNonce = req.query.state;
@@ -103,6 +118,7 @@ export class OAuthProvider implements AuthProviderRouteHandlers {
   async start(req: express.Request, res: express.Response): Promise<void> {
     // retrieve scopes from request
     const scope = req.query.scope?.toString() ?? '';
+    const env = req.query.env?.toString() ?? '';
 
     if (this.options.persistScopes) {
       this.setScopesCookie(res, scope);
@@ -112,9 +128,21 @@ export class OAuthProvider implements AuthProviderRouteHandlers {
     // set a nonce cookie before redirecting to oauth provider
     this.setNonceCookie(res, nonce);
 
+    // const stateObject: {nonce: string,
+    //                    env: string}
+
+    const stateObject = { nonce: nonce, env: env };
+
+    const state = Object.keys(stateObject)
+      .map(
+        key =>
+          `${encodeURIComponent(key)}=${encodeURIComponent(stateObject[key])}`,
+      )
+      .join('&');
+
     const queryParameters = {
       scope,
-      state: nonce,
+      state: state,
     };
 
     const { url, status } = await this.providerHandlers.start(
@@ -224,6 +252,19 @@ export class OAuthProvider implements AuthProviderRouteHandlers {
     }
   }
 
+  identifyEnv(req: express.Request): string {
+    const reqEnv = req.query.env?.toString();
+    if (reqEnv) {
+      return reqEnv;
+    }
+    const stateParam = req.query.state?.toString();
+    if (!stateParam) {
+      return '';
+    }
+    const env = getEnv(readState(stateParam));
+    return env;
+  }
+
   /**
    * If the response from the OAuth provider includes a Backstage identity, we
    * make sure it's populated with all the information we can derive from the user ID.
diff --git a/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/factories.ts b/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/factories.ts
index dcce98a986..f4144ddc6c 100644
--- a/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/factories.ts
+++ b/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/factories.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 
 import Router from 'express-promise-router';
+import express from 'express';
 import { Logger } from 'winston';
 import { TokenIssuer } from '../identity';
 import { createGithubProvider } from './github';
@@ -54,16 +55,24 @@ export const createAuthProviderRouter = (
   const router = Router();
   const envs = providerConfig.keys();
   const envProviders: EnvironmentHandlers = {};
+  let envIdentifier: (req: express.Request) => string;
 
   for (const env of envs) {
     const envConfig = providerConfig.getConfig(env);
     const provider = factory(globalConfig, env, envConfig, logger, issuer);
     if (provider) {
       envProviders[env] = provider;
+      if (envIdentifier === undefined) {
+        envIdentifier = provider.identifyEnv;
+      }
     }
   }
 
-  const handler = new EnvironmentHandler(providerId, envProviders);
+  const handler = new EnvironmentHandler(
+    providerId,
+    envProviders,
+    envIdentifier,
+  );
 
   router.get('/start', handler.start.bind(handler));
   router.get('/handler/frame', handler.frameHandler.bind(handler));
diff --git a/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/oauth2/provider.ts b/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/oauth2/provider.ts
index 967fd011f0..c03f7c4371 100644
--- a/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/oauth2/provider.ts
+++ b/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/oauth2/provider.ts
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ export class OAuth2AuthProvider implements OAuthProviderHandlers {
 
 export function createOAuth2Provider(
   { baseUrl }: AuthProviderConfig,
-  env: string,
+  _: string,
   envConfig: Config,
   logger: Logger,
   tokenIssuer: TokenIssuer,
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ export function createOAuth2Provider(
   const appOrigin = envConfig.getString('appOrigin');
   const clientID = envConfig.getString('clientId');
   const clientSecret = envConfig.getString('clientSecret');
-  const callbackURL = `${baseUrl}/${providerId}/handler/frame?env=${env}`;
+  const callbackURL = `${baseUrl}/${providerId}/handler/frame`;
   const authorizationURL = envConfig.getString('authorizationURL');
   const tokenURL = envConfig.getString('tokenURL');
 
diff --git a/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/saml/provider.ts b/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/saml/provider.ts
index 3ddfba4bb0..605a46ece4 100644
--- a/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/saml/provider.ts
+++ b/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/saml/provider.ts
@@ -106,6 +106,10 @@ export class SamlAuthProvider implements AuthProviderRouteHandlers {
   async logout(_req: express.Request, res: express.Response): Promise<void> {
     res.send('noop');
   }
+
+  identifyEnv(_req: express.Request): string {
+    return '';
+  }
 }
 
 type SAMLProviderOptions = {
diff --git a/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/types.ts b/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/types.ts
index 93d459bb0d..c2570b8768 100644
--- a/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/types.ts
+++ b/plugins/auth-backend/src/providers/types.ts
@@ -203,6 +203,15 @@ export interface AuthProviderRouteHandlers {
    * @param {express.Response} res
    */
   logout?(req: express.Request, res: express.Response): Promise<void>;
+
+  /**
+   *(Optional) A method to identify the environment Context of the Request
+   *
+   *Request
+   *- contains the environment context information encoded in the request
+   *  @param {express.Request} req
+   */
+  identifyEnv?(req: express.Request): string;
 }
 
 export type AuthProviderFactory = (