diff --git a/src/apify/_configuration.py b/src/apify/_configuration.py
index 685cc53a..ab249284 100644
--- a/src/apify/_configuration.py
+++ b/src/apify/_configuration.py
@@ -251,6 +251,7 @@ class Configuration(CrawleeConfiguration):
             ),
             description='Date when the Actor will time out',
         ),
+        BeforeValidator(lambda val: val if val != '' else None),  # We should accept empty environment variables as well
     ] = None
 
     standby_port: Annotated[