diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/Entity/ConfigEntityBase.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/Entity/ConfigEntityBase.php
index 627bb83..1c3db15 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/Entity/ConfigEntityBase.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/Entity/ConfigEntityBase.php
@@ -408,6 +408,17 @@ public function getConfigDependencyName() {
   /**
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
+  public function getConfigTarget() {
+    // For configuration entities, use the config ID for the config target
+    // identifier. This ensures that default configuration (which does not yet
+    // have UUIDs) can be provided and installed with references to the target,
+    // and also makes config dependencies more readable.
+    return $this->id();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
   public function onDependencyRemoval(array $dependencies) {
   }
 
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/Entity.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/Entity.php
index d9b7b4b..2b2a1c5 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/Entity.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/Entity.php
@@ -557,4 +557,13 @@ public function getConfigDependencyName() {
     return $this->getEntityTypeId() . ':' . $this->bundle() . ':' . $this->uuid();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  public function getConfigTarget() {
+    // For content entities, use the UUID for the config target identifier.
+    // This ensures that references to the target can be deployed reliably.
+    return $this->uuid();
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityInterface.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityInterface.php
index 674078d..aced311 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityInterface.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityInterface.php
@@ -418,4 +418,15 @@ public function getCacheTags();
    */
   public function getConfigDependencyName();
 
+  /**
+   * Gets the configuration target identifier for the entity.
+   *
+   * Used to supply the correct format for storing a reference targeting this
+   * entity in other configuration.
+   *
+   * @return string
+   *   The configuration target identifier.
+   */
+  public function getConfigTarget();
+
 }
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityManager.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityManager.php
index 7d7eded..b703c40 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityManager.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityManager.php
@@ -966,6 +966,27 @@ public function loadEntityByUuid($entity_type_id, $uuid) {
   /**
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
+  public function loadEntityByConfigTarget($entity_type_id, $target) {
+    $entity_type = $this->getDefinition($entity_type_id);
+
+    // For configuration entities, the config target is given by the entity ID.
+    // @todo Should we allow entity types to return their target identifier key
+    //   rather than hard-coding this check?
+    if ($entity_type instanceof ConfigEntityType) {
+      $entity = $this->getStorage($entity_type_id)->load($target);
+    }
+
+    // For content entities, the config target is given by the UUID.
+    else {
+      $entity = $this->loadEntityByUuid($entity_type_id, $target);
+    }
+
+    return $entity;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
   public function getEntityTypeFromClass($class_name) {
 
     // Check the already calculated classes first.
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityManagerInterface.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityManagerInterface.php
index 13f9862..7a99cc3 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityManagerInterface.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/EntityManagerInterface.php
@@ -460,6 +460,26 @@ public function getFormModeOptions($entity_type_id, $include_disabled = FALSE);
   public function loadEntityByUuid($entity_type_id, $uuid);
 
   /**
+   * Loads an entity by the config target identifier.
+   *
+   * @param string $entity_type_id
+   *   The entity type ID to load from.
+   * @param string $target
+   *   The configuration target to load, as returned from
+   *   \Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityInterface::getConfigTarget().
+   *
+   * @return \Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityInterface|FALSE
+   *   The entity object, or FALSE if there is no entity with the given UUID.
+   *
+   * @throws \Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityStorageException
+   *   Thrown if the target identifier is a UUID but the entity type does not
+   *   support UUIDs.
+   *
+   * @see \Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityInterface::getConfigTarget()
+   */
+  public function loadEntityByConfigTarget($entity_type_id, $target);
+
+  /**
    * Returns the entity type ID based on the class that is called on.
    *
    * Compares the class this is called on against the known entity classes