diff --git a/src/Composer/Downloader/GitDownloader.php b/src/Composer/Downloader/GitDownloader.php
index 2dc7532a9..2c4884320 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Downloader/GitDownloader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Downloader/GitDownloader.php
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class GitDownloader extends VcsDownloader
      */
     public function doDownload(PackageInterface $package, $path, $url)
     {
-        $this->cleanEnv();
+        GitUtil::cleanEnv();
         $path = $this->normalizePath($path);
 
         $ref = $package->getSourceReference();
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ class GitDownloader extends VcsDownloader
      */
     public function doUpdate(PackageInterface $initial, PackageInterface $target, $path, $url)
     {
-        $this->cleanEnv();
+        GitUtil::cleanEnv();
         $path = $this->normalizePath($path);
         if (!is_dir($path.'/.git')) {
             throw new \RuntimeException('The .git directory is missing from '.$path.', see http://getcomposer.org/commit-deps for more information');
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class GitDownloader extends VcsDownloader
      */
     public function getLocalChanges(PackageInterface $package, $path)
     {
-        $this->cleanEnv();
+        GitUtil::cleanEnv();
         $path = $this->normalizePath($path);
         if (!is_dir($path.'/.git')) {
             return;
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ class GitDownloader extends VcsDownloader
      */
     protected function cleanChanges(PackageInterface $package, $path, $update)
     {
-        $this->cleanEnv();
+        GitUtil::cleanEnv();
         $path = $this->normalizePath($path);
         if (!$changes = $this->getLocalChanges($package, $path)) {
             return;
@@ -467,12 +467,6 @@ class GitDownloader extends VcsDownloader
         $this->hasStashedChanges = true;
     }
 
-    protected function cleanEnv()
-    {
-        $util = new GitUtil;
-        $util->cleanEnv();
-    }
-
     protected function normalizePath($path)
     {
         if (defined('PHP_WINDOWS_VERSION_MAJOR') && strlen($path) > 0) {
diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
index f177f8eab..300adea17 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
@@ -191,8 +191,7 @@ class RootPackageLoader extends ArrayLoader
 
     private function guessGitVersion(array $config)
     {
-        $util = new GitUtil;
-        $util->cleanEnv();
+        GitUtil::cleanEnv();
 
         // try to fetch current version from git tags
         if (0 === $this->process->execute('git describe --exact-match --tags', $output)) {
diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Locker.php b/src/Composer/Package/Locker.php
index ea5297cc3..aa2755915 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Locker.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Locker.php
@@ -327,8 +327,7 @@ class Locker
             $sourceRef = $package->getSourceReference() ?: $package->getDistReference();
             switch ($sourceType) {
                 case 'git':
-                    $util = new GitUtil;
-                    $util->cleanEnv();
+                    GitUtil::cleanEnv();
 
                     if (0 === $this->process->execute('git log -n1 --pretty=%ct '.escapeshellarg($sourceRef), $output, $path) && preg_match('{^\s*\d+\s*$}', $output)) {
                         $datetime = new \DateTime('@'.trim($output), new \DateTimeZone('UTC'));
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
index a37633655..f8fbc715f 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
@@ -42,8 +42,7 @@ class GitDriver extends VcsDriver
         } else {
             $this->repoDir = $this->config->get('cache-vcs-dir') . '/' . preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}i', '-', $this->url) . '/';
 
-            $util = new GitUtil;
-            $util->cleanEnv();
+            GitUtil::cleanEnv();
 
             $fs = new Filesystem();
             $fs->ensureDirectoryExists(dirname($this->repoDir));
diff --git a/src/Composer/Util/Git.php b/src/Composer/Util/Git.php
index 4b6fcd6f2..f15922a3e 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Util/Git.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Util/Git.php
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ namespace Composer\Util;
  */
 class Git
 {
-    public function cleanEnv()
+    public static function cleanEnv()
     {
         if (ini_get('safe_mode') && false === strpos(ini_get('safe_mode_allowed_env_vars'), 'GIT_ASKPASS')) {
             throw new \RuntimeException('safe_mode is enabled and safe_mode_allowed_env_vars does not contain GIT_ASKPASS, can not set env var. You can disable safe_mode with "-dsafe_mode=0" when running composer');