diff --git a/templates/plugins/gitlab/plugin.py b/templates/plugins/gitlab/plugin.py
index ce2bec704482ede88de67eca714130bb58e32f4c..e5af7f68fef28c053b1db6ccf7a25a6d34661a65 100644
--- a/templates/plugins/gitlab/plugin.py
+++ b/templates/plugins/gitlab/plugin.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ LOG = logging.getLogger('alerta.plugins')
 
 ALERTA_URL = 'https://{{ alerta_domain }}/web'
 GITLAB_URL = '{{ gitlab_issue.url }}'
-GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN = '{{ gitlab_issue.token }}'
+GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN = '{{ lookup("env","GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN") }}'
 
 
 class GitlabIssue(PluginBase):