diff --git a/cmake/SearchForStuff.cmake b/cmake/SearchForStuff.cmake
index 97007fec5c..a6f3cc02bf 100644
--- a/cmake/SearchForStuff.cmake
+++ b/cmake/SearchForStuff.cmake
@@ -92,15 +92,17 @@ endif ()
 # Find packages
 
 find_package(CURL)
-if (CURL_FOUND)
-  # FindCURL.cmake distributed with CMake exports
-  # the CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS variable, while the pkg_check_modules
-  # function exports the CURL_INCLUDEDIR variable.
-  # TODO: once the configure.bat VS2013 based script has been removed,
-  #       remove the call pkg_check_modules(CURL libcurl) and all the uses of
-  #       CURL_LIBDIR and CURL_INCLUDEDIR and use directly the variables
-  #       CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS and CURL_LIBRARIES provided by FindCURL.cmake
-  set(CURL_INCLUDEDIR ${CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+if (CURL_FOUND AND NOT TARGET CURL::libcurl AND CURL_LIBRARY)
+  # Make a target on Bionic because FindCURL.cmake only sets old-style CMake variables
+  add_library(CURL::libcurl SHARED IMPORTED)
+  set_target_properties(CURL::libcurl PROPERTIES
+    IMPORTED_LOCATION "${CURL_LIBRARY}"
+    INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES "${CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS}"
+    INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES "${CURL_LIBRARIES}")
+  if (WIN32)
+    set_target_properties(CURL::libcurl PROPERTIES
+      INTERFACE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "CURL_STATICLIB")
+  endif()
 endif ()
 
 # In Visual Studio we use configure.bat to trick all path cmake
@@ -110,13 +112,6 @@ if (MSVC)
 endif()
 
 if (PKG_CONFIG_FOUND)
-  if (NOT CURL_FOUND)
-    pkg_check_modules(CURL libcurl)
-  endif ()
-  if (NOT CURL_FOUND)
-    BUILD_ERROR ("Missing: libcurl. Required for connection to model database.")
-  endif()
-
   pkg_check_modules(PROFILER libprofiler)
   if (PROFILER_FOUND)
     set (CMAKE_LINK_FLAGS_PROFILE "-Wl,--no-as-needed -lprofiler -Wl,--as-needed ${CMAKE_LINK_FLAGS_PROFILE}" CACHE INTERNAL "Link flags for profile")
diff --git a/gazebo/CMakeLists.txt b/gazebo/CMakeLists.txt
index 7ed1ea81c3..9ad9d02a7a 100644
--- a/gazebo/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/gazebo/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ link_directories(
   ${SDFormat_LIBRARY_DIRS}
   ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/test
   ${TBB_LIBRARY_DIR}
-  ${CURL_LIBDIR}
   ${IGNITION-MSGS_LIBRARY_DIRS}
 )
 
diff --git a/gazebo/common/CMakeLists.txt b/gazebo/common/CMakeLists.txt
index 6e32435d61..13ce89f4a4 100644
--- a/gazebo/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/gazebo/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -17,14 +17,6 @@ if (HAVE_GDAL)
   include_directories(${GDAL_INCLUDE_DIR})
 endif()
 
-if (CURL_FOUND)
-  include_directories(${CURL_INCLUDEDIR})
-  link_directories(${CURL_LIBDIR})
-  if (WIN32)
-    add_definitions(-DCURL_STATICLIB)
-  endif()
-endif()
-
 include_directories(${tinyxml_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 link_directories(${tinyxml_LIBRARY_DIRS})
 
@@ -237,7 +229,6 @@ target_compile_definitions(gazebo_common
 target_link_libraries(gazebo_common
   PUBLIC
     ${Boost_LIBRARIES}
-    ${CURL_LIBRARIES}
     ${freeimage_LIBRARIES}
     ignition-common3::graphics
     ${IGNITION-FUEL_TOOLS_LIBRARIES}
@@ -248,6 +239,7 @@ target_link_libraries(gazebo_common
     ${SDFormat_LIBRARIES}
     ${tinyxml_LIBRARIES}
   PRIVATE
+    CURL::libcurl
     ${libtool_library}
     ${libavcodec_LIBRARIES}
     ${libavformat_LIBRARIES}
diff --git a/plugins/CMakeLists.txt b/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
index dd426626f9..4392f86e3c 100644
--- a/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ if(WIN32 AND NOT UNIX)
 endif()
 
 include_directories(SYSTEM
-  ${CURL_INCLUDEDIR}
   ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
   ${PROTOBUF_INCLUDE_DIR}
   ${SDFormat_INCLUDE_DIRS}
@@ -53,15 +52,11 @@ include_directories(SYSTEM
 # failures in clang.
 link_directories(
   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
-  ${CURL_LIBDIR}
   ${CCD_LIBRARY_DIRS}
   ${SDFormat_LIBRARY_DIRS}
   ${tinyxml_LIBRARY_DIRS}
 )
 
-if (WIN32)
-  add_definitions(-DCURL_STATICLIB)
-endif()
 add_definitions(${Qt5Core_DEFINITIONS})
 set (CMAKE_AUTOMOC ON)
 
@@ -197,6 +192,8 @@ target_include_directories(SimpleTrackedVehiclePlugin SYSTEM PRIVATE
 target_link_libraries(SimpleTrackedVehiclePlugin TrackedVehiclePlugin)
 add_dependencies(SimpleTrackedVehiclePlugin TrackedVehiclePlugin)
 
+target_link_libraries(StaticMapPlugin CURL::libcurl)
+
 target_link_libraries(WheelTrackedVehiclePlugin TrackedVehiclePlugin)
 add_dependencies(WheelTrackedVehiclePlugin TrackedVehiclePlugin)
 
diff --git a/plugins/rest_web/CMakeLists.txt b/plugins/rest_web/CMakeLists.txt
index 6f8df8af8d..d7eb70cbf4 100644
--- a/plugins/rest_web/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/plugins/rest_web/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -41,7 +41,10 @@ include_directories(
 )
 
 add_library(RestWebPlugin SHARED ${server_src} )
-target_link_libraries(RestWebPlugin ${GAZEBO_libraries} gazebo_msgs)
+target_link_libraries(RestWebPlugin
+  CURL::libcurl
+  ${GAZEBO_libraries}
+  gazebo_msgs)
 install (TARGETS RestWebPlugin
          LIBRARY DESTINATION ${GAZEBO_PLUGIN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR}
          ARCHIVE DESTINATION ${GAZEBO_PLUGIN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR}
diff --git a/plugins/rest_web/RestUiLoginDialog.cc b/plugins/rest_web/RestUiLoginDialog.cc
index d2ab6269e5..82f50fe351 100644
--- a/plugins/rest_web/RestUiLoginDialog.cc
+++ b/plugins/rest_web/RestUiLoginDialog.cc
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 */
 
 #include <iostream>
-#include <curl/curl.h>
 
 #include "RestUiLoginDialog.hh"
 #include "RestUiWidget.hh"
diff --git a/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
index 2209d57990..5f2c112105 100644
--- a/tools/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -24,14 +24,6 @@ if (HAVE_DART)
   link_directories(${DART_LIBRARY_DIRS})
 endif()
 
-if (CURL_FOUND)
-  include_directories(${CURL_INCLUDEDIR})
-  link_directories(${CURL_LIBDIR})
-  if (WIN32)
-    add_definitions(-DCURL_STATICLIB)
-  endif()
-endif()
-
 if(NOT WIN32)
   # gz_TEST and gz_log_TEST use fork(), that is not available on Windows
   set (test_sources