diff --git a/unittest/utils/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/utils/CMakeLists.txt
index d02d378ea6..67135deb11 100644
--- a/unittest/utils/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/utils/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ add_test(Tokenizer test_tokenizer)
 add_executable(test_utils test_utils.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(test_utils PRIVATE lammps GTest::GMockMain GTest::GMock GTest::GTest)
 add_test(Utils test_utils)
+set_tests_properties(Utils PROPERTIES ENVIRONMENT "LAMMPS_POTENTIALS=${LAMMPS_POTENTIALS_DIR}")
 
 add_executable(test_fmtlib test_fmtlib.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(test_fmtlib PRIVATE lammps GTest::GMockMain GTest::GMock GTest::GTest)