diff --git a/.github/workflows/schedule.sgid-index-validation.yml b/.github/workflows/schedule.sgid-index-validation.yml
index 233c006d4..6070db0e3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/schedule.sgid-index-validation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/schedule.sgid-index-validation.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
       run:
         working-directory: ./src/scripts
     env:
-      GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS: ${{ secrets.SA }}
+      GOOGLE_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.SA }}
 
     steps:
       - name: ⬇️ Set up code
diff --git a/src/scripts/validate-sgid-index.mjs b/src/scripts/validate-sgid-index.mjs
index 38ea9c8db..ef0e31bc3 100644
--- a/src/scripts/validate-sgid-index.mjs
+++ b/src/scripts/validate-sgid-index.mjs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { GoogleAuth } from 'google-auth-library';
+import { GoogleAuth, auth } from 'google-auth-library';
 import { GoogleSpreadsheet } from 'google-spreadsheet';
 import ky from 'ky';
 import ProgressBar from 'progress';
@@ -7,12 +7,20 @@ import { validateOpenDataUrl, validateOpenSgidTableName, validateUrl } from './u
 
 const spreadsheetId = '11ASS7LnxgpnD0jN4utzklREgMf1pcvYjcXcIcESHweQ';
 
-const auth = new GoogleAuth({
-  scopes: ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets', 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive'],
-});
+const scopes = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets', 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive'];
+let client;
+if (process.env.GITHUB_ACTIONS) {
+  console.log('using ci credentials');
+  client = auth.fromJSON(JSON.parse(import.meta.env.GOOGLE_PRIVATE_KEY));
+  client.scopes = scopes;
+} else {
+  client = new GoogleAuth({
+    scopes,
+  });
+}
 
 console.log('loading spreadsheet');
-const spreadsheet = new GoogleSpreadsheet(spreadsheetId, auth);
+const spreadsheet = new GoogleSpreadsheet(spreadsheetId, client);
 await spreadsheet.loadInfo();
 const worksheet = spreadsheet.sheetsByTitle['SGID Index'];