diff --git a/contrib/ci/qt5-thread-test/meson.build b/contrib/ci/qt5-thread-test/meson.build
index d0b5beae3..59a11e3b9 100644
--- a/contrib/ci/qt5-thread-test/meson.build
+++ b/contrib/ci/qt5-thread-test/meson.build
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ qt5concurrent = dependency('Qt5Concurrent')
 glib2 = dependency('glib-2.0')
 gio2 = dependency('gio-2.0')
 fwupd = dependency('fwupd')
+env = environment()
+env.set('G_DEBUG', 'fatal-criticals')
 e = executable(
   'qt-thread-test',
   sources : [
@@ -20,4 +22,4 @@ e = executable(
     fwupd,
   ],
 )
-test('qt-thread-test', e, timeout: 60)
+test('qt-thread-test', e, timeout: 60, env: env)