diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2024-11-05-19-44-32.gh-issue-116772.jC4dMr.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2024-11-05-19-44-32.gh-issue-116772.jC4dMr.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..075f06072e786f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2024-11-05-19-44-32.gh-issue-116772.jC4dMr.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Cache ``getenv`` result in optimizer.c to reduce redundant calls during
+optimization
diff --git a/Python/optimizer.c b/Python/optimizer.c
index f8d0aa04b9e003..fa8a39fc19ad44 100644
--- a/Python/optimizer.c
+++ b/Python/optimizer.c
@@ -1200,6 +1200,28 @@ int effective_trace_length(_PyUOpInstruction *buffer, int length)
 }
 #endif
 
+static bool uops_optimize_initialized = false;
+static bool uops_optimize_flag = false;
+
+static void
+initialize_uops_optimize_flag(void) {
+    if (!uops_optimize_initialized) {
+        PyInterpreterState *interp = _PyInterpreterState_GET();
+        char *env_var = Py_GETENV("PYTHON_UOPS_OPTIMIZE");
+        bool uops_optimize_flag = (env_var == NULL || *env_var == '\0' || *env_var > '0');
+        if (interp != NULL) {
+            interp->uops_optimize_flag = uops_optimize_flag;
+        }
+        uops_optimize_initialized = true;
+    }
+    else {
+        PyInterpreterState *interp = _PyInterpreterState_GET();
+        if (interp != NULL) {
+             uops_optimize_flag = interp->uops_optimize_flag;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 static int
 uop_optimize(
     _PyInterpreterFrame *frame,
@@ -1208,6 +1230,8 @@ uop_optimize(
     int curr_stackentries,
     bool progress_needed)
 {
+    initialize_uops_optimize_flag();
+
     _PyBloomFilter dependencies;
     _Py_BloomFilter_Init(&dependencies);
     _PyUOpInstruction buffer[UOP_MAX_TRACE_LENGTH];
@@ -1219,8 +1243,7 @@ uop_optimize(
     }
     assert(length < UOP_MAX_TRACE_LENGTH);
     OPT_STAT_INC(traces_created);
-    char *env_var = Py_GETENV("PYTHON_UOPS_OPTIMIZE");
-    if (env_var == NULL || *env_var == '\0' || *env_var > '0') {
+    if (uops_optimize_flag) {
         length = _Py_uop_analyze_and_optimize(frame, buffer,
                                            length,
                                            curr_stackentries, &dependencies);