diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 16b8a6a1..23e756ea 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ PlatformIO Core 6
 * Made assets (templates, ``99-platformio-udev.rules``) part of Python's module (`issue #4458 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/4458>`_)
 * Updated `Clang-Tidy <https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/plus/check-tools/clang-tidy.html>`__ check tool to v15.0.5 with new diagnostics and bugfixes
 * Removed dependency on the "zeroconf" package and install it only when a user lists mDNS devices (issue with zeroconf's LGPL license)
+* Show the real error message instead of "Can not remove temporary directory" when "platform.ini" is broken (`issue #4480 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/4480>`_)
 
 6.1.5 (2022-11-01)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/platformio/project/config.py b/platformio/project/config.py
index 3443863a..265fa95d 100644
--- a/platformio/project/config.py
+++ b/platformio/project/config.py
@@ -319,7 +319,13 @@ class ProjectConfigBase:
         if section == "this":
             section = parent_section
             if option == "__env__":
-                assert parent_section.startswith("env:")
+                if not parent_section.startswith("env:"):
+                    raise exception.ProjectOptionValueError(
+                        f"`${{this.__env__}}` is called from the `{parent_section}` "
+                        "section that is not valid PlatformIO environment, see",
+                        option,
+                        section,
+                    )
                 return parent_section[4:]
         # handle nested calls
         try:
diff --git a/platformio/run/cli.py b/platformio/run/cli.py
index adf0153f..6c647431 100644
--- a/platformio/run/cli.py
+++ b/platformio/run/cli.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ from tabulate import tabulate
 from platformio import app, exception, fs, util
 from platformio.device.monitor.command import device_monitor_cmd
 from platformio.project.config import ProjectConfig
+from platformio.project.exception import ProjectError
 from platformio.project.helpers import find_project_dir_above, load_build_metadata
 from platformio.run.helpers import clean_build_dir, handle_legacy_libdeps
 from platformio.run.processor import EnvironmentProcessor
@@ -115,6 +116,8 @@ def cli(
             build_dir = config.get("platformio", "build_dir")
             try:
                 clean_build_dir(build_dir, config)
+            except ProjectError as exc:
+                raise exc
             except:  # pylint: disable=bare-except
                 click.secho(
                     "Can not remove temporary directory `%s`. Please remove "