diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/metrics/Lineage.java b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/metrics/Lineage.java
index 1a193ec006e0..dc30d82adcf4 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/metrics/Lineage.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/metrics/Lineage.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.lineage.LineageOptions;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.metrics.Metrics.MetricsFlag;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.options.PipelineOptions;
+import org.apache.beam.sdk.options.PipelineOptionsFactory;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.base.Splitter;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.Nullable;
@@ -122,16 +123,24 @@ private static Lineage createLineage(PipelineOptions options, LineageDirection d
 
   /** {@link Lineage} representing sources and optionally side inputs. */
   public static Lineage getSources() {
-    return checkNotNull(
-        sources,
-        "Lineage not initialized. FileSystems.setDefaultPipelineOptions must be called first.");
+    Lineage localSources = sources;
+    if (localSources == null) {
+      return createDefaultLineage(LineageDirection.SOURCE);
+    }
+    return localSources;
   }
 
   /** {@link Lineage} representing sinks. */
   public static Lineage getSinks() {
-    return checkNotNull(
-        sinks,
-        "Lineage not initialized. FileSystems.setDefaultPipelineOptions must be called first.");
+    Lineage localSinks = sinks;
+    if (localSinks == null) {
+      return createDefaultLineage(LineageDirection.SINK);
+    }
+    return localSinks;
+  }
+
+  private static Lineage createDefaultLineage(LineageDirection direction) {
+    return createLineage(PipelineOptionsFactory.create(), direction);
   }
 
   @VisibleForTesting