diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 209ee2a714..4e580bde80 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ dependencies:
   - fire
   - fsspec
   - gdal
+  - importlib_metadata <8  # required for Python < 3.10
   - iris >=3.6.1
   - iris-esmf-regrid >=0.7.0
   - jinja2
diff --git a/environment_osx.yml b/environment_osx.yml
index 809cb09346..6901a51d94 100644
--- a/environment_osx.yml
+++ b/environment_osx.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ dependencies:
   - fsspec
   - fire
   - gdal
+  - importlib_metadata <8  # required for Python < 3.10
   - iris >=3.6.1
   - iris-esmf-regrid >=0.7.0
   - jinja2
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 84bd2a7c82..3bca61abcf 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
         'fire',
         'fsspec',
         'GDAL',
+        "importlib_metadata<8;python_version<'3.10'",
         'jinja2',
         'joblib',
         'lime',