diff --git a/.changeset/real-actors-jog.md b/.changeset/real-actors-jog.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d2a77195fddc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/real-actors-jog.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'astro': patch
+---
+
+Fixes a case where environment variables would not be refreshed when using `astro:env`
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/env/runtime-constants.ts b/packages/astro/src/env/runtime-constants.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..27b5d72113b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/astro/src/env/runtime-constants.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export const ENV_SYMBOL = Symbol.for('astro:env/dev');
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/env/runtime.ts b/packages/astro/src/env/runtime.ts
index a2017b617f84..3d3b3c77500b 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/env/runtime.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/env/runtime.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { AstroError, AstroErrorData } from '../core/errors/index.js';
+import { ENV_SYMBOL } from './runtime-constants.js';
 import { invalidVariablesToError } from './errors.js';
 import type { ValidationResultInvalid } from './validators.js';
 export { validateEnvVariable, getEnvFieldType } from './validators.js';
@@ -6,7 +7,10 @@ export { validateEnvVariable, getEnvFieldType } from './validators.js';
 export type GetEnv = (key: string) => string | undefined;
 type OnSetGetEnv = (reset: boolean) => void;
 
-let _getEnv: GetEnv = (key) => process.env[key];
+let _getEnv: GetEnv = (key) => {
+	const env = (globalThis as any)[ENV_SYMBOL] ?? {};
+	return env[key];
+};
 
 export function setGetEnv(fn: GetEnv, reset = false) {
 	_getEnv = fn;
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/env/vite-plugin-env.ts b/packages/astro/src/env/vite-plugin-env.ts
index 9ae24a90ba1b..d8165f48caf4 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/env/vite-plugin-env.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/env/vite-plugin-env.ts
@@ -11,12 +11,7 @@ import {
 import { type InvalidVariable, invalidVariablesToError } from './errors.js';
 import type { EnvSchema } from './schema.js';
 import { getEnvFieldType, validateEnvVariable } from './validators.js';
-
-// TODO: reminders for when astro:env comes out of experimental
-// Types should always be generated (like in types/content.d.ts). That means the client module will be empty
-// and server will only contain getSecret for unknown variables. Then, specifying a schema should only add
-// variables as needed. For secret variables, it will only require specifying SecretValues and it should get
-// merged with the static types/content.d.ts
+import { ENV_SYMBOL } from './runtime-constants.js';
 
 interface AstroEnvVirtualModPluginParams {
 	settings: AstroSettings;
@@ -47,11 +42,7 @@ export function astroEnv({
 				fileURLToPath(settings.config.root),
 				'',
 			);
-			for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(loadedEnv)) {
-				if (value !== undefined) {
-					process.env[key] = value;
-				}
-			}
+			(globalThis as any)[ENV_SYMBOL] = loadedEnv;
 
 			const validatedVariables = validatePublicVariables({
 				schema,