diff --git a/python/CMakeLists.txt b/python/CMakeLists.txt
index abfc59a..139b80b 100644
--- a/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ target_link_libraries(_nvbench PRIVATE CUDA::cudart_static)
 set_target_properties(_nvbench PROPERTIES INSTALL_RPATH "$ORIGIN")
 set_target_properties(_nvbench PROPERTIES INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION ON)
 set_target_properties(_nvbench PROPERTIES POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
-set_target_properties(_nvbench PROPERTIES CXX_STANDARD 20)
 
 install(TARGETS _nvbench DESTINATION cuda/nvbench)
 
diff --git a/python/src/py_nvbench.cpp b/python/src/py_nvbench.cpp
index be2a384..89fb718 100644
--- a/python/src/py_nvbench.cpp
+++ b/python/src/py_nvbench.cpp
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ private:
 
 class nvbench_run_error : std::runtime_error
 {};
-constinit py::handle benchmark_exc{};
+py::handle benchmark_exc{};
 
 class GlobalBenchmarkRegistry
 {
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ py::dict py_get_axis_values(const nvbench::state &state)
 }
 
 // essentially a global variable, but allocated on the heap during module initialization
-constinit std::unique_ptr<GlobalBenchmarkRegistry, py::nodelete> global_registry{};
+std::unique_ptr<GlobalBenchmarkRegistry, py::nodelete> global_registry{};
 
 } // end of anonymous namespace