diff --git a/requestsync b/requestsync
index 00973db..681a24a 100755
--- a/requestsync
+++ b/requestsync
@@ -203,8 +203,11 @@ def get_email_address():
     '''Get the DEBEMAIL environment variable or give an error.'''
     myemailaddr = os.getenv('DEBEMAIL')
     if not myemailaddr:
-        print >> sys.stderr, 'The environment variable DEBEMAIL needs to be ' +\
-            ' set to make use of this script, unless you use option --lp.'
+        myemailaddr = os.getenv('EMAIL')
+        if not myemailaddr:
+            print >> sys.stderr, 'The environment variable DEBEMAIL or ' +\
+                'EMAIL needs to be set to make use of this script, unless ' +\
+                'you use option --lp.'
     return myemailaddr
 
 def mail_bug(source_package, subscribe, status, bugtitle, bugtext, keyid = None):
diff --git a/update-maintainer b/update-maintainer
index 0123c68..9af8057 100755
--- a/update-maintainer
+++ b/update-maintainer
@@ -79,9 +79,11 @@ if 'Ubuntu Developers' in maintainer_name and \
 if not ubuntutools.packages.checkIsInDebian(package_name, 'unstable'):
     user_email_address = os.getenv('DEBEMAIL')
     if not user_email_address:
-        sys.stderr.write('The environment variable DEBEMAIL needs to be ' +\
-            'set to make proper use of this script.\n')
-    	sys.exit(1)
+        user_email_address = os.getenv('EMAIL')
+        if not user_email_address:
+            sys.stderr.write('The environment variable DEBEMAIL or EMAIL ' +\
+                'needs to be set to make proper use of this script.\n')
+            sys.exit(1)
     target_maintainer = user_email_address
 else:
     target_maintainer = "Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com>"