diff --git a/libs/partners/pinecone/langchain_pinecone/embeddings.py b/libs/partners/pinecone/langchain_pinecone/embeddings.py
index cad6b18d495..c0adecd1e86 100644
--- a/libs/partners/pinecone/langchain_pinecone/embeddings.py
+++ b/libs/partners/pinecone/langchain_pinecone/embeddings.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import logging
-import os
 from typing import Dict, Iterable, List, Optional
 
 import aiohttp
@@ -10,7 +9,7 @@ from langchain_core.pydantic_v1 import (
     SecretStr,
     root_validator,
 )
-from langchain_core.utils import convert_to_secret_str
+from langchain_core.utils import secret_from_env
 from pinecone import Pinecone as PineconeClient  # type: ignore
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -45,10 +44,21 @@ class PineconeEmbeddings(BaseModel, Embeddings):
     dimension: Optional[int] = None
     #
     show_progress_bar: bool = False
-    pinecone_api_key: Optional[SecretStr] = None
+    pinecone_api_key: Optional[SecretStr] = Field(
+        default_factory=secret_from_env(
+            "PINECONE_API_KEY",
+            error_message="Pinecone API key not found. Please set the PINECONE_API_KEY "
+            "environment variable or pass it via `pinecone_api_key`.",
+        ),
+        alias="api_key",
+    )
+    """Pinecone API key. 
+    
+    If not provided, will look for the PINECONE_API_KEY environment variable."""
 
     class Config:
         extra = "forbid"
+        allow_population_by_field_name = True
 
     @root_validator(pre=True)
     def set_default_config(cls, values: dict) -> dict:
@@ -69,25 +79,10 @@ class PineconeEmbeddings(BaseModel, Embeddings):
                     values[key] = value
         return values
 
-    @root_validator()
+    @root_validator(pre=False, skip_on_failure=True)
     def validate_environment(cls, values: dict) -> dict:
         """Validate that Pinecone version and credentials exist in environment."""
-
-        pinecone_api_key = values.get("pinecone_api_key") or os.getenv(
-            "PINECONE_API_KEY", None
-        )
-        if pinecone_api_key:
-            api_key_secretstr = convert_to_secret_str(pinecone_api_key)
-            values["pinecone_api_key"] = api_key_secretstr
-
-            api_key_str = api_key_secretstr.get_secret_value()
-        else:
-            api_key_str = None
-        if api_key_str is None:
-            raise ValueError(
-                "Pinecone API key not found. Please set the PINECONE_API_KEY "
-                "environment variable or pass it via `pinecone_api_key`."
-            )
+        api_key_str = values["pinecone_api_key"].get_secret_value()
         client = PineconeClient(api_key=api_key_str, source_tag="langchain")
         values["_client"] = client
 
diff --git a/libs/partners/pinecone/tests/unit_tests/test_embeddings.py b/libs/partners/pinecone/tests/unit_tests/test_embeddings.py
index 23d7b1df4c7..924b4e79662 100644
--- a/libs/partners/pinecone/tests/unit_tests/test_embeddings.py
+++ b/libs/partners/pinecone/tests/unit_tests/test_embeddings.py
@@ -7,10 +7,22 @@ MODEL_NAME = "multilingual-e5-large"
 
 
 def test_default_config() -> None:
-    e = PineconeEmbeddings(pinecone_api_key=API_KEY, model=MODEL_NAME)
+    e = PineconeEmbeddings(
+        pinecone_api_key=API_KEY,  # type: ignore[call-arg]
+        model=MODEL_NAME,
+    )
+    assert e.batch_size == 96
+
+
+def test_default_config_with_api_key() -> None:
+    e = PineconeEmbeddings(api_key=API_KEY, model=MODEL_NAME)
     assert e.batch_size == 96
 
 
 def test_custom_config() -> None:
-    e = PineconeEmbeddings(pinecone_api_key=API_KEY, model=MODEL_NAME, batch_size=128)
+    e = PineconeEmbeddings(
+        pinecone_api_key=API_KEY,  # type: ignore[call-arg]
+        model=MODEL_NAME,
+        batch_size=128,
+    )
     assert e.batch_size == 128