diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 4e36b05fbc7..032a30370c0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -366,6 +366,11 @@ jobs:
             ~/.cache/go-build
           key: go-build-${{ hashFiles('**/go.sum') }}
           restore-keys: go-build-
+      - name: Set current branch
+        run: |
+          raw=$(git branch -r --contains ${{ github.ref }})
+          branch=${raw##*/}
+          echo "CURRENT_BRANCH=$branch" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       - run: make release-notes
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GH_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/scripts/release-notes/release_notes.go b/scripts/release-notes/release_notes.go
index 6663124d656..65ce8f2f225 100644
--- a/scripts/release-notes/release_notes.go
+++ b/scripts/release-notes/release_notes.go
@@ -17,9 +17,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	branch        = "gh-pages"
-	tokenKey      = "GITHUB_TOKEN"
-	defaultBranch = "main"
+	branch           = "gh-pages"
+	currentBranchKey = "CURRENT_BRANCH"
+	tokenKey         = "GITHUB_TOKEN"
+	defaultBranch    = "main"
 )
 
 var outputPath string
@@ -72,16 +73,15 @@ func run() error {
 	}
 	logrus.Infof("Using HEAD commit %s", head)
 
-	targetBranch := defaultBranch
-	currentBranch, err := repo.CurrentBranch()
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("get current branch: %w", err)
-	}
-	logrus.Infof("Found current branch %s", currentBranch)
-	if git.IsReleaseBranch(currentBranch) && currentBranch != defaultBranch {
-		targetBranch = currentBranch
+	currentBranch, currentBranchSet := os.LookupEnv(currentBranchKey)
+	if !currentBranchSet || currentBranch == "" {
+		logrus.Infof(
+			"%s environment variable is not set, using default branch `%s`",
+			currentBranchKey, defaultBranch,
+		)
+		currentBranch = defaultBranch
 	}
-	logrus.Infof("Using target branch %s", targetBranch)
+	logrus.Infof("Using branch: %s", currentBranch)
 
 	templateFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "")
 	if err != nil {
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ To verify the bill of materials (SBOM) in [SPDX](https://spdx.org) format using
 		"./build/bin/release-notes",
 		"--org=cri-o",
 		"--repo=cri-o",
-		"--branch="+targetBranch,
+		"--branch="+currentBranch,
 		"--repo-path=/tmp/cri-o-repo",
 		"--required-author=",
 		"--start-rev="+startTag,