diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 255d5b44269b42cb490259867884fd133e33a664..fb66f5a3395b02a111bca69973093355afc867aa 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3,12 +3,13 @@ project('load-leveller', 'c', 'cpp',
   meson_version : '>=0.50.0',
   default_options : [
     'warning_level=3',
+    'cpp_std=c++17'
   ]
 )
 
 fmt_dep = dependency('fmt', fallback : ['fmt', 'fmt_dep'])
 yamlcpp_dep = dependency('yaml-cpp', version : '>=0.6.0', fallback : ['yaml-cpp', 'yamlcpp_dep'])
-mpi_dep = dependency('mpi')
+mpi_dep = dependency('mpi', language : 'cpp')
 
 # HDF5 is a pain
 cc = meson.get_compiler('cpp')