diff --git a/roles/check-compose/templates/check-compose.conf.j2 b/roles/check-compose/templates/check-compose.conf.j2
index b3a34f0384..823efba281 100644
--- a/roles/check-compose/templates/check-compose.conf.j2
+++ b/roles/check-compose/templates/check-compose.conf.j2
@@ -26,9 +26,11 @@ json: {{ checkcompose_json }}
 {% if checkcompose_loglevel is defined %}
 loglevel: {{ checkcompose_loglevel }}
 {% endif %}
+{% if checkcompose_subvariant_emails is defined %}
 {% for subv, recdict in checkcompose_subvariant_emails.items() %}
 [{{ subv }}]
 {% for rectype, recips in recdict %}
 {{ rectype }}: {{ recips|join(' ') }}
 {% endfor %}
 {% endfor %}
+{% endif %}