diff --git a/news/11501.process.rst b/news/11501.process.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..af6dbb47417
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/11501.process.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+Prevent the ``pkg_resources`` metadata backend from being used on Python 3.12
+or later. This backend exists for backward compatibility, and should only be
+used on newer Python versions by Python distributors that cannot correctly
+implement ``importlib.metadata`` support in a timely fashion. Time is up for
+transition since CPython is now removing mechanisms that ``pkg_resource``
+relies on, and the backend will no longer work on Python 3.12 or later.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/metadata/__init__.py b/src/pip/_internal/metadata/__init__.py
index 9f73ca7105f..8ab78a3065b 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/metadata/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/metadata/__init__.py
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ def _should_use_importlib_metadata() -> bool:
     """Whether to use the ``importlib.metadata`` or ``pkg_resources`` backend.
 
     By default, pip uses ``importlib.metadata`` on Python 3.11+, and
-    ``pkg_resourcess`` otherwise. This can be overridden by a couple of ways:
+    ``pkg_resources`` otherwise. On Python versions prior to 3.12, this can be
+    overridden by a couple of ways for transitional purposes:
 
     * If environment variable ``_PIP_USE_IMPORTLIB_METADATA`` is set, it
       dictates whether ``importlib.metadata`` is used, regardless of Python
@@ -40,6 +41,8 @@ def _should_use_importlib_metadata() -> bool:
       makes pip use ``pkg_resources`` (unless the user set the aforementioned
       environment variable to *True*).
     """
+    if sys.version_info >= (3, 12):
+        return True
     with contextlib.suppress(KeyError, ValueError):
         return bool(strtobool(os.environ["_PIP_USE_IMPORTLIB_METADATA"]))
     if sys.version_info < (3, 11):