diff --git a/pyccc/engines/subproc.py b/pyccc/engines/subproc.py
index 4ff6707..69861b2 100644
--- a/pyccc/engines/subproc.py
+++ b/pyccc/engines/subproc.py
@@ -64,12 +64,14 @@ def submit(self, job):
             for filename, f in job.inputs.items():
                 f.put(os.path.join(job.workingdir, filename))
 
+        subenv = os.environ.copy()
+        subenv['PYTHONIOENCODING'] = 'utf-8'
         job.subproc = subprocess.Popen(job.command,
                                        shell=True,
                                        cwd=job.workingdir,
                                        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                                        stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
-                                       env={'PYTHONIOENCODING': 'utf-8'})
+                                       env=subenv)
         job.jobid = job.subproc.pid
         job._started = True
         return job.subproc.pid
diff --git a/pyccc/tests/test_job_types.py b/pyccc/tests/test_job_types.py
index b7717e6..e8f0534 100644
--- a/pyccc/tests/test_job_types.py
+++ b/pyccc/tests/test_job_types.py
@@ -174,6 +174,21 @@ def test_bash_exitcode(fixture, request):
     assert job.exitcode == 35
 
 
+@pytest.fixture
+def set_env_var():
+    import os
+    assert 'NULL123' not in os.environ, "Bleeding environment"
+    os.environ['NULL123'] = 'nullabc'
+    yield
+    del os.environ['NULL123']
+
+
+def test_subprocess_environment_preserved(subprocess_engine, set_env_var):
+    job = subprocess_engine.launch(command='echo $NULL123', image='python:2.7-slim')
+    job.wait()
+    assert job.stdout.strip() == 'nullabc'
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('fixture', fixture_types['engine'])
 def test_python_exitcode(fixture, request):
     engine = request.getfuncargvalue(fixture)