diff --git a/.changelog/12496.txt b/.changelog/12496.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ed5ca473c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/12496.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:improvement
+client: set NOMAD_CPU_CORES environment variable when reserving cpu cores
+```