diff --git a/powertools-logging/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/logging/internal/LambdaLoggingAspect.java b/powertools-logging/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/logging/internal/LambdaLoggingAspect.java
index 421462e0c..4c9f48c82 100644
--- a/powertools-logging/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/logging/internal/LambdaLoggingAspect.java
+++ b/powertools-logging/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/logging/internal/LambdaLoggingAspect.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Pointcut;
 import software.amazon.lambda.powertools.logging.Logging;
 
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 import static java.util.Optional.empty;
 import static java.util.Optional.of;
 import static java.util.Optional.ofNullable;
@@ -165,8 +166,8 @@ private Object[] logFromInputStream(final ProceedingJoinPoint pjp) {
         Object[] args = pjp.getArgs();
 
         try (ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-             OutputStreamWriter writer = new OutputStreamWriter(out);
-             InputStreamReader reader = new InputStreamReader((InputStream) pjp.getArgs()[0])) {
+             OutputStreamWriter writer = new OutputStreamWriter(out, UTF_8);
+             InputStreamReader reader = new InputStreamReader((InputStream) pjp.getArgs()[0], UTF_8)) {
 
             IOUtils.copy(reader, writer);
             writer.flush();
diff --git a/powertools-tracing/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/LambdaTracingAspect.java b/powertools-tracing/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/LambdaTracingAspect.java
index e1d765a4a..c2907c277 100644
--- a/powertools-tracing/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/LambdaTracingAspect.java
+++ b/powertools-tracing/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/LambdaTracingAspect.java
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ public Object around(ProceedingJoinPoint pjp,
     private boolean captureResponse(Tracing powerToolsTracing) {
         switch (powerToolsTracing.captureMode()) {
             case ENVIRONMENT_VAR:
-                Boolean captureResponse = environmentVariable("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE");
-                return null != captureResponse ? captureResponse : powerToolsTracing.captureResponse();
+                boolean captureResponse = environmentVariable("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE");
+                return isEnvironmentVariableSet("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE") ? captureResponse : powerToolsTracing.captureResponse();
             case RESPONSE:
             case RESPONSE_AND_ERROR:
                 return true;
@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@ private boolean captureResponse(Tracing powerToolsTracing) {
     private boolean captureError(Tracing powerToolsTracing) {
         switch (powerToolsTracing.captureMode()) {
             case ENVIRONMENT_VAR:
-                Boolean captureError = environmentVariable("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR");
-                return null != captureError ? captureError : powerToolsTracing.captureError();
+                boolean captureError = environmentVariable("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR");
+                return isEnvironmentVariableSet("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR") ? captureError : powerToolsTracing.captureError();
             case ERROR:
             case RESPONSE_AND_ERROR:
                 return true;
@@ -117,8 +117,11 @@ private boolean placedOnHandlerMethod(ProceedingJoinPoint pjp) {
                 && (placedOnRequestHandler(pjp) || placedOnStreamHandler(pjp));
     }
 
-    private Boolean environmentVariable(String POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE) {
-        return null != SystemWrapper.getenv(POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE)
-                ? Boolean.valueOf(SystemWrapper.getenv(POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE)) : null;
+    private boolean environmentVariable(String key) {
+        return Boolean.parseBoolean(SystemWrapper.getenv(key));
+    }
+
+    private boolean isEnvironmentVariableSet(String key) {
+        return SystemWrapper.containsKey(key);
     }
 }
diff --git a/powertools-tracing/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/SystemWrapper.java b/powertools-tracing/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/SystemWrapper.java
index d49c5b46b..da1a92ced 100644
--- a/powertools-tracing/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/SystemWrapper.java
+++ b/powertools-tracing/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/SystemWrapper.java
@@ -7,4 +7,8 @@ public SystemWrapper() {
     public static String getenv(String name) {
         return System.getenv(name);
     }
+
+    public static boolean containsKey(String key) {
+        return System.getenv().containsKey(key);
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/powertools-tracing/src/test/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/LambdaTracingAspectTest.java b/powertools-tracing/src/test/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/LambdaTracingAspectTest.java
index 85577ac52..03c7b9110 100644
--- a/powertools-tracing/src/test/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/LambdaTracingAspectTest.java
+++ b/powertools-tracing/src/test/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/tracing/internal/LambdaTracingAspectTest.java
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ static void beforeAll() {
         try (MockedStatic<SystemWrapper> mocked = mockStatic(SystemWrapper.class)) {
             mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.getenv("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE")).thenReturn(null);
             mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.getenv("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR")).thenReturn(null);
+            mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.containsKey("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE")).thenReturn(false);
+            mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.containsKey("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR")).thenReturn(false);
         }
     }
 
@@ -227,6 +229,7 @@ void shouldCaptureTracesWithNoMetadataDeprecated() {
     @Test
     void shouldNotCaptureTracesIfDisabledViaEnvironmentVariable() {
         try (MockedStatic<SystemWrapper> mocked = mockStatic(SystemWrapper.class)) {
+            mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.containsKey("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE")).thenReturn(true);
             mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.getenv("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE")).thenReturn("false");
 
             requestHandler.handleRequest(new Object(), context);
@@ -269,7 +272,9 @@ void shouldCaptureTracesIfExplicitlyEnabledAndEnvironmentVariableIsDisabled() {
     @Test
     void shouldCaptureTracesIfExplicitlyEnabledBothAndEnvironmentVariableIsDisabled() {
         try (MockedStatic<SystemWrapper> mocked = mockStatic(SystemWrapper.class)) {
+            mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.containsKey("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE")).thenReturn(true);
             mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.getenv("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE")).thenReturn("false");
+            mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.containsKey("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR")).thenReturn(true);
             mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.getenv("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR")).thenReturn("false");
             requestHandler = new PowerTracerToolEnabledExplicitlyForResponseAndError();
 
@@ -292,6 +297,7 @@ void shouldCaptureTracesIfExplicitlyEnabledBothAndEnvironmentVariableIsDisabled(
     @Test
     void shouldNotCaptureTracesWithExceptionMetaDataIfDisabledViaEnvironmentVariable() {
         try (MockedStatic<SystemWrapper> mocked = mockStatic(SystemWrapper.class)) {
+            mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.containsKey("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR")).thenReturn(true);
             mocked.when(() -> SystemWrapper.getenv("POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR")).thenReturn("false");
             requestHandler = new PowerTracerToolEnabledWithException();