diff --git a/CEP/Pipeline/recipes/sip/bin/genericpipeline.py b/CEP/Pipeline/recipes/sip/bin/genericpipeline.py
index c094d6d2cd0f465a15a4310c80ef1a016f9cbc64..5ac1f058b546cf55e1f72f36b8112d860870b110 100755
--- a/CEP/Pipeline/recipes/sip/bin/genericpipeline.py
+++ b/CEP/Pipeline/recipes/sip/bin/genericpipeline.py
@@ -519,8 +519,10 @@ class GenericPipeline(control):
                 replacedict[str(check).lstrip('!').lstrip(' ')] = str(self.parset[check])
             if str(check).startswith('pipeline.replace.'):
                 replacedict[str(check).replace('pipeline.replace.', '').lstrip(' ')] = str(self.parset[check])
-        #self.logger.info( 'REPLACEDICT: ')
-        #self.logger.info(replacedict)
+        #expand environment variables
+        for k, v in replacedict.items():
+            replacedict[k] = os.path.expandvars(v)
+
         for check in self._keys(self.parset):
             for k, v in reversed(replacedict.items()):
                 if '{{ '+k+' }}' in str(self.parset[check]):