diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1ada9cbc8..bd6f40dd2 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -137,6 +137,10 @@ if(DD4HEP_USE_GEANT4)
   IF(NOT Geant4_builtin_clhep_FOUND)
     SET(DD4HEP_USE_CLHEP TRUE)
   ENDIF()
+  if(Geant4_CXX_STANDARD MATCHES "[0-9]+" AND Geant4_CXX_STANDARD LESS ${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD})
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Geant4 was compiled with C++${Geant4_CXX_STANDARD}, but DD4hep requires C++${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD}")
+  endif()
+
   DD4HEP_SETUP_GEANT4_TARGETS()
   # Geant4 sets the CLHEP include directory to include_directories, we undo this here
   # we don't do this inside DD4hep_SETUP_GEANT4_TARGETS, because that is also used in