diff --git a/.github/workflows/kfp-tekton-unittests.yml b/.github/workflows/kfp-tekton-unittests.yml
index f84cb3c747..c4bc96e699 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/kfp-tekton-unittests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/kfp-tekton-unittests.yml
@@ -9,14 +9,13 @@ on:
 
 env:
   GITHUB_ACTION: "true"
-  SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS: "stdlib"
 
 jobs:
   python-unittest:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: ['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11']
+        python-version: ['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12']
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
diff --git a/sdk/README.md b/sdk/README.md
index f1f683611b..d584eed286 100644
--- a/sdk/README.md
+++ b/sdk/README.md
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ adding the `TektonCompiler` and the `TektonClient`:
 
 ## Project Prerequisites
 
- - Python: `3.8` or later
+ - Python: `3.8` or later. For Python 3.12, make sure to not have the `SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS` flag because it's already [deprecated](https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/4002).
  - Tekton: [`v0.53.2`](https://github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/releases/tag/v0.53.2) or [later](https://github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/releases/latest)
  - Tekton CLI: [`0.30.1`](https://github.com/tektoncd/cli/releases/tag/v0.30.1)
  - Kubeflow Pipelines: [KFP with Tekton backend](/guides/kfp_tekton_install.md)
diff --git a/sdk/python/setup.py b/sdk/python/setup.py
index 6b4f9b6bd6..2a436d63bd 100644
--- a/sdk/python/setup.py
+++ b/sdk/python/setup.py
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@
 REQUIRES = [
     "kfp>=1.8.10,<1.8.23",
     "kfp-tekton-server-api==1.8.0rc8",
-    "PyYAML>=6,<7"
+    "PyYAML>=6,<7",
+    "setuptools>=69.1"
 ]
 
 TESTS_REQUIRE = [