diff --git a/sentry_sdk/integrations/stdlib.py b/sentry_sdk/integrations/stdlib.py
index 0a17834a40..4e4b411868 100644
--- a/sentry_sdk/integrations/stdlib.py
+++ b/sentry_sdk/integrations/stdlib.py
@@ -207,7 +207,11 @@ def sentry_patched_popen_init(self, *a, **kw):
             for k, v in hub.iter_trace_propagation_headers(span):
                 if env is None:
                     env = _init_argument(
-                        a, kw, "env", 10, lambda x: dict(x or os.environ)
+                        a,
+                        kw,
+                        "env",
+                        10,
+                        lambda x: dict(x if x is not None else os.environ),
                     )
                 env["SUBPROCESS_" + k.upper().replace("-", "_")] = v
 
diff --git a/tests/integrations/stdlib/test_subprocess.py b/tests/integrations/stdlib/test_subprocess.py
index d61be35fd2..d1684c356d 100644
--- a/tests/integrations/stdlib/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/stdlib/test_subprocess.py
@@ -180,6 +180,19 @@ def test_subprocess_basic(
         assert sys.executable + " -c" in subprocess_init_span["description"]
 
 
+def test_subprocess_empty_env(sentry_init, monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("TEST_MARKER", "should_not_be_seen")
+    sentry_init(integrations=[StdlibIntegration()], traces_sample_rate=1.0)
+    with start_transaction(name="foo"):
+        args = [
+            sys.executable,
+            "-c",
+            "import os; print(os.environ.get('TEST_MARKER', None))",
+        ]
+        output = subprocess.check_output(args, env={}, text=True)
+    assert "should_not_be_seen" not in output
+
+
 def test_subprocess_invalid_args(sentry_init):
     sentry_init(integrations=[StdlibIntegration()])