diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9c11ede4a69..a81cc008f59 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ coverage: $(BUILD_DIR)
 release: cross docs $(BUILD_DIR)/VERSION
 	docker build \
         		-f deploy/skaffold/Dockerfile \
-        		-e VERSION=$(VERSION)		  \
         		--cache-from gcr.io/$(GCP_PROJECT)/skaffold-builder \
         		-t gcr.io/$(GCP_PROJECT)/skaffold:$(VERSION) .
 	gsutil -m cp $(BUILD_DIR)/$(PROJECT)-* $(GSC_RELEASE_PATH)/