diff --git a/tests/include.ctest.sh.in b/tests/include.ctest.sh.in
index 01bc11db0..9187cf76d 100644
--- a/tests/include.ctest.sh.in
+++ b/tests/include.ctest.sh.in
@@ -15,3 +15,9 @@ test_dir=@CMAKE_BINARY_DIR@/tests
 samp_dir="${proj_dir}/samples"
 ECCODES_SAMPLES_PATH=${samp_dir}
 export ECCODES_SAMPLES_PATH
+
+# If this environment variable is set, then become verbose
+# so one can see why and how a test failed
+if test "x$ECCODES_TEST_VERBOSE_OUTPUT" != "x"; then
+   set -x
+fi