diff --git a/.github/actions/install-parcels/action.yml b/.github/actions/install-parcels/action.yml
index a7aea0602..66a3bbccc 100644
--- a/.github/actions/install-parcels/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/install-parcels/action.yml
@@ -24,8 +24,6 @@ runs:
         environment-file: ${{ inputs.environment-file }}
         python-version: ${{ inputs.python-version }}
         channels: conda-forge
-        cache-environment: true
-        cache-downloads: true
     - name: MPI support
       if: ${{ ! (runner.os == 'Windows') }}
       run: conda install -c conda-forge mpich mpi4py
diff --git a/parcels/_compat.py b/parcels/_compat.py
index 981ef30a5..6efab15a7 100644
--- a/parcels/_compat.py
+++ b/parcels/_compat.py
@@ -2,13 +2,18 @@
 
 __all__ = ["MPI", "KMeans"]
 
+from typing import Any
+
+MPI: Any | None = None
+KMeans: Any | None = None
+
 try:
-    from mpi4py import MPI
+    from mpi4py import MPI  # type: ignore[no-redef]
 except ModuleNotFoundError:
-    MPI = None
+    pass
 
 # KMeans is used in MPI. sklearn not installed by default
 try:
-    from sklearn.cluster import KMeans
+    from sklearn.cluster import KMeans  # type: ignore[no-redef]
 except ModuleNotFoundError:
-    KMeans = None
+    pass