diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 8f484b0393a938d9995e19666903f3fc8f20b254..4317cec4da8d5512f4d73ffed8ff77724ee0e2be 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ if (PUGS_ENABLE_HDF5 MATCHES "^(AUTO|ON)$")
   set(PUGS_HAS_HDF5 ${HDF5_FOUND})
 else()
   unset(HIGHFIVE_TARGET)
-  unset(HDF5_TARGET PkgConfig::HDF5)
+  unset(HDF5_TARGET)
   unset(PUGS_HAS_HDF5)
 endif()