diff --git a/charmhelpers/core/hookenv.py b/charmhelpers/core/hookenv.py
index 370c3e8fd..1e810a259 100644
--- a/charmhelpers/core/hookenv.py
+++ b/charmhelpers/core/hookenv.py
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@
 #  Charm Helpers Developers <juju@lists.ubuntu.com>
 
 import copy
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+try:
+    from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+except ImportError:
+    from looseversion import LooseVersion
 from enum import Enum
 from functools import wraps
 from collections import namedtuple, UserDict
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index f779a7e83..3bb18dfca 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@ Jinja2
 netaddr
 
 pbr!=2.1.0,>=2.0.0 # Apache-2.0
+
+looseversion;python_version >= '3.12'