diff --git a/cmake/LAMMPSConfig.cmake.in b/cmake/LAMMPSConfig.cmake.in
index 969bd6e929..7cd782b3b8 100644
--- a/cmake/LAMMPSConfig.cmake.in
+++ b/cmake/LAMMPSConfig.cmake.in
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ if(NOT @BUILD_SHARED_LIBS@)
     find_dependency(ZLIB REQUIRED)
   endif()
   if(@PKG_KIM@)
-    find_package(KIM-API @KIM-API_MIN_VERSION@ CONFIG REQUIRED)
-    add_kim_api_imported_library()
+    find_dependency(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
+    pkg_check_modules(KIM-API REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET libkim-api>=@KIM-API_MIN_VERSION@)
     if(@CURL_FOUND@)
       find_dependency(CURL REQUIRED)
     endif()
diff --git a/cmake/Modules/Packages/KIM.cmake b/cmake/Modules/Packages/KIM.cmake
index 06e513bc0a..278a6b5afc 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/Packages/KIM.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/Packages/KIM.cmake
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
-# CMake configuration for KIM package
 set(KIM-API_MIN_VERSION 2.1.3)
 find_package(CURL)
 if(CURL_FOUND)
-  target_link_libraries(lammps PRIVATE CURL::libcurl)
+  if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS 3.12)
+    target_include_directories(lammps PRIVATE ${CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    target_link_libraries(lammps PRIVATE ${CURL_LIBRARIES})
+  else()
+    target_link_libraries(lammps PRIVATE CURL::libcurl)
+  endif()
   target_compile_definitions(lammps PRIVATE -DLMP_KIM_CURL)
   set(LMP_DEBUG_CURL OFF CACHE STRING "Set libcurl verbose mode on/off. If on, it displays a lot of verbose information about its operations.")
   mark_as_advanced(LMP_DEBUG_CURL)
@@ -15,11 +19,13 @@ if(CURL_FOUND)
     target_compile_definitions(lammps PRIVATE -DLMP_NO_SSL_CHECK)
   endif()
 endif()
-find_package(KIM-API ${KIM-API_MIN_VERSION} CONFIG)
-if(KIM-API_FOUND)
-  set(DOWNLOAD_KIM_DEFAULT OFF)
-else()
-  set(DOWNLOAD_KIM_DEFAULT ON)
+find_package(PkgConfig QUIET)
+set(DOWNLOAD_KIM_DEFAULT ON)
+if(PKG_CONFIG_FOUND)
+  pkg_check_modules(KIM-API QUIET libkim-api>=${KIM-API_MIN_VERSION})
+  if(KIM-API_FOUND)
+    set(DOWNLOAD_KIM_DEFAULT OFF)
+  endif()
 endif()
 option(DOWNLOAD_KIM "Download KIM-API from OpenKIM instead of using an already installed one" ${DOWNLOAD_KIM_DEFAULT})
 if(DOWNLOAD_KIM)
@@ -54,7 +60,7 @@ if(DOWNLOAD_KIM)
     install(CODE "MESSAGE(FATAL_ERROR \"Installing liblammps with downloaded libraries is currently not supported.\")")
   endif()
 else()
-  find_package(KIM-API ${KIM-API_MIN_VERSION} CONFIG REQUIRED)
-  add_kim_api_imported_library()
-  target_link_libraries(lammps PRIVATE kim-api)
+  find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
+  pkg_check_modules(KIM-API REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET libkim-api>=${KIM-API_MIN_VERSION})
+  target_link_libraries(lammps PRIVATE PkgConfig::KIM-API)
 endif()