diff --git a/docs/source/pages/developers_guide/apidoc/macaron.rst b/docs/source/pages/developers_guide/apidoc/macaron.rst
index fa9eace38..01ce11712 100644
--- a/docs/source/pages/developers_guide/apidoc/macaron.rst
+++ b/docs/source/pages/developers_guide/apidoc/macaron.rst
@@ -25,6 +25,14 @@ Subpackages
 Submodules
 ----------
 
+macaron.environment\_variables module
+-------------------------------------
+
+.. automodule:: macaron.environment_variables
+   :members:
+   :undoc-members:
+   :show-inheritance:
+
 macaron.errors module
 ---------------------
 
diff --git a/src/macaron/environment_variables.py b/src/macaron/environment_variables.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0bfbf2869
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/macaron/environment_variables.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2023 - 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Licensed under the Universal Permissive License v 1.0 as shown at https://oss.oracle.com/licenses/upl/.
+
+"""Helper functions related to environment variables."""
+
+import os
+from collections.abc import Mapping
+
+
+def get_patched_env(
+    patch: Mapping[str, str | None],
+    _env: dict[str, str] | None = None,
+) -> dict[str, str]:
+    """Return a dictionary whose elements copied from ``os.environ`` and are updated according to ``patch``.
+
+    This function does not modify ``os.environ``.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    patch : Mapping[str, str | None]
+        A mapping (immutable) in which:
+        - each key is an environment variable.
+        - each value is the value to set to the corresponding environment variable.
+        If value is ``None``, the environment variable is "unset".
+    _env : dict[str, str] | None
+        The environment being updated.
+        This is ``None`` by default, in which case ``os.environ`` is being updated.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    dict[str, str]
+        The the dictionary contains the patched env variables.
+    """
+    env = os.environ if _env is None else _env
+
+    # Make a copy of the environment.
+    copied_env = dict(env)
+
+    for var, value in patch.items():
+        if value is None:
+            copied_env.pop(var, None)
+        else:
+            copied_env[var] = value
+
+    return copied_env
diff --git a/src/macaron/slsa_analyzer/git_url.py b/src/macaron/slsa_analyzer/git_url.py
index 33e2e9a41..c44b053fa 100644
--- a/src/macaron/slsa_analyzer/git_url.py
+++ b/src/macaron/slsa_analyzer/git_url.py
@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@
 import os
 import re
 import string
+import subprocess  # nosec B404
 import urllib.parse
 from configparser import ConfigParser
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from git import GitCommandError
 from git.objects import Commit
@@ -17,6 +19,7 @@
 from pydriller.git import Git
 
 from macaron.config.defaults import defaults
+from macaron.environment_variables import get_patched_env
 from macaron.errors import CloneError
 
 logger: logging.Logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -235,6 +238,12 @@ def clone_remote_repo(clone_dir: str, url: str) -> Repo | None:
     This could happen when multiple runs of Macaron use the same `<output_dir>`, leading
     to Macaron potentially trying to clone a repository multiple times.
 
+    We use treeless partial clone to reduce clone time, by retrieving trees and blobs lazily.
+    For more details, see the following:
+    - https://git-scm.com/docs/partial-clone
+    - https://git-scm.com/docs/git-rev-list
+    - https://github.blog/2020-12-21-get-up-to-speed-with-partial-clone-and-shallow-clone
+
     Parameters
     ----------
     clone_dir : str
@@ -268,20 +277,38 @@ def clone_remote_repo(clone_dir: str, url: str) -> Repo | None:
             )
             return None
 
+    # Ensure that the parent directory where the repo is cloned into exists.
+    parent_dir = Path(clone_dir).parent
+    parent_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+
     try:
-        # The Repo.clone_from method handles creating intermediate dirs.
-        return Repo.clone_from(
-            url=url,
-            to_path=clone_dir,
-            env={
-                # Setting the GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable to ``0`` stops
-                # ``git clone`` from prompting for login credentials.
-                "GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "0",
-            },
+        git_env_patch = {
+            # Setting the GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable to ``0`` stops
+            # ``git clone`` from prompting for login credentials.
+            "GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "0",
+        }
+        result = subprocess.run(  # nosec B603
+            args=["git", "clone", "--filter=tree:0", url],
+            capture_output=True,
+            cwd=parent_dir,
+            # If `check=True` and return status code is not zero, subprocess.CalledProcessError is
+            # raised, which we don't want. We want to check the return status code of the subprocess
+            # later on.
+            check=False,
+            env=get_patched_env(git_env_patch),
         )
-    except GitCommandError as error:
-        # stderr here does not contain secrets, so it is safe for logging.
-        raise CloneError(error.stderr) from None
+    except (subprocess.CalledProcessError, OSError):
+        # Here, we raise from ``None`` to be extra-safe that no token is leaked.
+        # We should never store or print out the captured output from the subprocess
+        # because they might contain the secret-embedded URL.
+        raise CloneError("Failed to clone repository.") from None
+
+    if result.returncode != 0:
+        raise CloneError(
+            "Failed to clone repository: the `git clone --filter=tree:0` command exited with non-zero return code."
+        )
+
+    return Repo(path=clone_dir)
 
 
 def get_repo_name_from_url(url: str) -> str:
diff --git a/tests/test_environment_variables.py b/tests/test_environment_variables.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0964a50d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_environment_variables.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2023 - 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Licensed under the Universal Permissive License v 1.0 as shown at https://oss.oracle.com/licenses/upl/.
+
+"""Tests for helper functions related to environment variables."""
+
+import pytest
+
+from macaron.environment_variables import get_patched_env
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("before", "patch", "expect"),
+    [
+        pytest.param(
+            {"FOO": "some-value"},
+            {},
+            {"FOO": "some-value"},
+            id="patch is empty",
+        ),
+        pytest.param(
+            {"FOO": "some-value"},
+            {"GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "0"},
+            {
+                "FOO": "some-value",
+                "GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "0",
+            },
+            id="patch adding a variable",
+        ),
+        pytest.param(
+            {"GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "1"},
+            {"GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "0"},
+            {"GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "0"},
+            id="patch overriding a variable",
+        ),
+        pytest.param(
+            {"GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "0"},
+            {"GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": None},
+            {},
+            id="patch removing a variable",
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test_patched_env(
+    before: dict[str, str],
+    patch: dict[str, str | None],
+    expect: dict[str, str],
+) -> None:
+    """Tests for the ``get_patched_env`` helper function."""
+    env = dict(before)
+
+    assert get_patched_env(patch, env) == expect