diff --git a/src/parcels/__init__.py b/src/parcels/__init__.py
index e6aa1aad3..6e0bcfda9 100644
--- a/src/parcels/__init__.py
+++ b/src/parcels/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
-from ._version import version
+from importlib.metadata import version as _version
 
-__version__ = version
+try:
+    __version__ = _version("parcels")
+except Exception:
+    # Local copy or not installed with setuptools.
+    __version__ = "unknown"
 
 import warnings as _stdlib_warnings
 
diff --git a/src/parcels/_version.py b/src/parcels/_version.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 322c33059..000000000
--- a/src/parcels/_version.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-import os
-import subprocess
-import warnings
-
-try:
-    from parcels._version_setup import version
-except ModuleNotFoundError:
-    try:
-        version = (
-            subprocess.check_output(
-                ["git", "-C", os.path.dirname(__file__), "describe", "--tags"],
-                stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
-            )
-            .decode("ascii")
-            .strip()
-        )
-    except subprocess.SubprocessError:
-        warnings.warn(
-            "Looks like you're trying to do a development install of parcels. "
-            "This needs to be in a git repo so that version information is available. "
-            "Setting version to 'unknown'.",
-            stacklevel=2,
-        )
-        version = "unknown"