diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index fb275dd5d..682221f0c 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ Requires libvips v8.12.2
 
 ### v0.30.5 - TBD
 
+* Install: pass `PKG_CONFIG_PATH` via env rather than substitution.
+  [@dwisiswant0](https://github.com/dwisiswant0)
+
 * Allow installation of prebuilt libvips binaries from filesystem.
   [#3196](https://github.com/lovell/sharp/pull/3196)
   [@ankurparihar](https://github.com/ankurparihar)
diff --git a/lib/libvips.js b/lib/libvips.js
index e13db2074..3159a9bc9 100644
--- a/lib/libvips.js
+++ b/lib/libvips.js
@@ -65,7 +65,12 @@ const isRosetta = function () {
 
 const globalLibvipsVersion = function () {
   if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
-    const globalLibvipsVersion = spawnSync(`PKG_CONFIG_PATH="${pkgConfigPath()}" pkg-config --modversion vips-cpp`, spawnSyncOptions).stdout;
+    const globalLibvipsVersion = spawnSync('pkg-config --modversion vips-cpp', {
+      ...spawnSyncOptions,
+      env: {
+        PKG_CONFIG_PATH: pkgConfigPath()
+      }
+    }).stdout;
     /* istanbul ignore next */
     return (globalLibvipsVersion || '').trim();
   } else {
@@ -85,7 +90,10 @@ const removeVendoredLibvips = function () {
 
 const pkgConfigPath = function () {
   if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
-    const brewPkgConfigPath = spawnSync('which brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && eval $(brew --env) && echo $PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR', spawnSyncOptions).stdout || '';
+    const brewPkgConfigPath = spawnSync(
+      'which brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && brew environment --plain | grep PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR | cut -d" " -f2',
+      spawnSyncOptions
+    ).stdout || '';
     return [
       brewPkgConfigPath.trim(),
       env.PKG_CONFIG_PATH,