diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c1b62398e48219ac1bd69117ccb6ed9efa879821..4ec638e2f6b0510214a9368ec61749f936913e7e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ pre vars:
   - if (( ${DIFF_ARR[1]} > 0 )); then CHART_BREAKING_CHANGE="true"; fi
   # store variables
   - echo "CHART_BREAKING_CHANGE=$CHART_BREAKING_CHANGE" >> variables.env
+  # Create the TF_VAR_env variable
+  - echo "TF_VAR_env=$(echo $CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG | cut -c 1-7)-$(echo $CI_COMMIT_SHA | cut -c 1-7)"
   - cat variables.env
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/templates.yml b/.gitlab-ci/templates.yml
index e2f1e65619cede940e0ce9aceee2314c32fad56f..c4c7ad631fcd7c95c046f6cce616ac2df29866bf 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/templates.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/templates.yml
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ include:
   interruptible: false
   variables:
     TF_IN_AUTOMATION: "1"
-    TF_VAR_env: $(echo "${CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG}"| cut -c 1-7)-$(echo "${CI_COMMIT_SHA}" | cut -c 1-7)
   before_script:
     # Shorten the env name down to 15 characters
+    - echo "$TF_VAR_env"
     - cd ${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/${TF_ROOT}
     - terraform version
     - terraform init -input=false