diff --git a/common/include/nodiscard.h b/common/include/nodiscard.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5d51254e97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/include/nodiscard.h
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later */
+/* Copyright (C) 2024 Intel Corporation
+ *                    Mariusz Zaborski <oshogbo@invisiblethingslab.com>
+ */
+
+/*
+ * This file contains a definition for NODISCARD, a macro that wraps
+ * the nodiscard attribute introduced in C23. However, because Gramine supports
+ * older systems that might not have support for C23, we have to wrap it on our
+ * own and change it to a no-op on systems that don't support it.
+ * TODO: Remove the macros and use [[nodiscard]] directly, after dropping *EL8
+ *       and Ubuntu 20.04 support.
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#if defined(__has_c_attribute)
+#if __has_c_attribute(nodiscard)
+#define NODISCARD [[nodiscard]]
+#endif
+#endif
+
+#ifndef NODISCARD
+#define NODISCARD
+#endif
diff --git a/common/include/pal_error.h b/common/include/pal_error.h
index b71a9ccc07..89cb1d8dbe 100644
--- a/common/include/pal_error.h
+++ b/common/include/pal_error.h
@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
+#include <nodiscard.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 
-typedef enum _pal_error_t {
+typedef enum NODISCARD {
     PAL_ERROR_SUCCESS = 0,
     PAL_ERROR_NOTIMPLEMENTED,
     PAL_ERROR_NOTDEFINED,
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ce50fac3ff..329272b844 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -16,6 +16,18 @@ project(
     ],
 )
 
+# If C23 (or experimetal C23 - C2x) is available, use it.
+# TODO: Gramine supports older versions of gcc, so newer versions of compilers
+#       may not be available.
+#       We can change to c2x when we drop *EL8 and Ubuntu 20.04.
+#       We can't change to c23 for any supported versions yet (requires at
+#       least gcc 14).
+if meson.get_compiler('c').has_argument('-std=c23')
+  add_project_arguments('-std=c23', language: 'c')
+elif meson.get_compiler('c').has_argument('-std=c2x')
+  add_project_arguments('-std=c2x', language: 'c')
+endif
+
 # we need this subdir() early, because we need scripts defined there for setting up global vars
 subdir('scripts')