diff --git a/.github/workflows/create-condalock-file.yml b/.github/workflows/create-condalock-file.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..33c745dadb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/create-condalock-file.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+name: Conda lock file creation
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+    - main
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '0 4 */10 * *'
+
+jobs:
+  create-verify-lock-file:
+    name: Create and verify conda lock file for latest Python
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
+        with:
+          auto-update-conda: true
+          python-version: "3.10"
+          miniconda-version: "latest"
+          activate-environment: esmvaltool-fromlock
+          channels: conda-forge
+      - name: Show conda config
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: |
+          conda info
+          conda list
+          conda config --show-sources
+          conda config --show
+      - name: Gather Python info
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: |
+          which python
+          python --version
+      - name: Install conda-lock
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: conda install -y conda-lock
+      - name: Create conda lock file for linux-64
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: conda-lock lock --platform linux-64 -f environment.yml --mamba
+      - name: Creating environment from lock file
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: conda create --name esmvaltool-fromlock --file conda-linux-64.lock
+      - name: Installing pip
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: conda install pip
+      - name: Gather pip info
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: pip --version
+      - name: Gather Python info again
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: |
+          which python
+          python --version
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: pip install -e .[develop]
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: esmvaltool --help
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: esmvaltool version
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: pytest -n 2 -m "not installation and not sequential"
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: pytest -n 0 -m "sequential"
+      # Automated PR
+      # see https://github.com/marketplace/actions/create-pull-request
+      - name: Create Automated PR if conda lock file has changed
+        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v3
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          commit-message: Updating Linux condalock file
+          author: ${{ github.actor }} <${{ github.actor }}@users.noreply.github.com>
+          signoff: false
+          branch: condalock-update
+          delete-branch: true
+          title: '[Condalock] Update Linux condalock file'
+          body: |
+            Update condalock file
+            Automatic Pull Request.
+          labels: |
+            testing
+            condalock
+            automatedPR
+          assignees: valeriupredoi
+          reviewers: valeriupredoi
+          team-reviewers: |
+            owners
+            maintainers
+          draft: false
diff --git a/.github/workflows/install-from-condalock-file.yml b/.github/workflows/install-from-condalock-file.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84e5ad2696
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/install-from-condalock-file.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# Install esmvalcore from a conda lock file
+# To build a conda lock file install conda-lock first then
+# run conda-lock lock --platform linux-64 -f environment.yml --mamba
+# (mamba activated for speed). Change platform for osx-64 or win-64.
+# Env creation then happens as per normal use with
+# mamba create --name esmvaltool-fromlock --file conda-linux-64.lock
+# note that pip and conda are NOT installed.
+
+name: Conda-lock Install
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+    - main
+  # run the test only if the PR is to main
+  # turn it on if required
+  #pull_request:
+  #  branches:
+  #  - main
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '0 0 * * *'
+
+jobs:
+  linux:
+    runs-on: "ubuntu-latest"
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        python-version: ["3.7", "3.8", "3.9", "3.10"]
+      fail-fast: false
+    name: Linux Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
+        with:
+          activate-environment: esmvaltool-fromlock
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          channels: conda-forge
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: mkdir -p source_install_linux_artifacts_python_${{ matrix.python-version }}
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: conda --version 2>&1 | tee source_install_linux_artifacts_python_${{ matrix.python-version }}/conda_version.txt
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: which python
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: python -V 2>&1 | tee source_install_linux_artifacts_python_${{ matrix.python-version }}/python_version.txt
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: conda create --name esmvaltool-fromlock --file conda-linux-64.lock
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: conda install pip
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: which python
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: pip --version
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: pip install -e .[develop]
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: esmvaltool --help
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: esmvaltool version 2>&1 | tee source_install_linux_artifacts_python_${{ matrix.python-version }}/version.txt
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: pytest -n 2 -m "not installation and not sequential"
+      - shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: pytest -n 0 -m "sequential"
+      - name: Upload artifacts
+        if: ${{ always() }}  # upload artifacts even if fail
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
+        with:
+          name: Source_Install_Linux_python_${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          path: source_install_linux_artifacts_python_${{ matrix.python-version }}
diff --git a/conda-linux-64.lock b/conda-linux-64.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2ad3fb2420
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conda-linux-64.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+# Generated by conda-lock.
+# platform: linux-64
+# input_hash: 17174979413bb1638d023a31d1bd2e48ee696c44c10b57ed724ba737bace28cc
+@EXPLICIT
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diff --git a/doc/quickstart/install.rst b/doc/quickstart/install.rst
index d973e3caa1..ba19474e3a 100644
--- a/doc/quickstart/install.rst
+++ b/doc/quickstart/install.rst
@@ -212,5 +212,51 @@ yourself if you are just running diagnostics:
 .. note::
     If you would like to use pre-installed versions on HPC clusters (currently CEDA-JASMIN and DKRZ-MISTRAL),
     please have a look at
-    :ref:`the ESMValTool instructions too <esmvaltool:install_on_hpc>`.
+    :ref:`these instructions <esmvaltool:install_on_hpc>`.
 
+
+Installation from the conda lock file
+-------------------------------------
+
+A fast conda environment creation is possible using the provided conda lock files. This is a secure alternative
+to the installation from source, whenever the conda environment can not be created for some reason. A conda lock file
+is an explicit environment file that contains pointers to dependency packages as they are hosted on the Anaconda cloud;
+these have frozen version numbers, build hashes, and channel names, parameters established at the time
+of the conda lock file creation, so may be obsolete after a while,
+but they allow for a robust environment creation while they're still up-to-date.
+We regenerate these lock files every 10 days, so to minimize the risk of dependencies becoming obsolete.
+Conda environment creation from a lock file is done just like with any other environment file:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+   conda create --name esmvaltool --file conda-linux-64.lock
+
+
+.. note::
+   `pip` and `conda` are NOT installed, so you will have to install them in the new environment: use conda-forge as channel): ``conda install -c conda-forge pip`` at the very minimum so we can install `esmvalcore` afterwards.
+
+
+Creating a conda lock file
+--------------------------
+
+We provide a conda lock file for Linux-based operating systems, but if you prefer to
+build a conda lock file yourself, install the `conda-lock` package first:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+   conda install -c conda-forge conda-lock
+
+then run
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+   conda-lock lock --platform linux-64 -f environment.yml --mamba
+
+(mamba activated for speed) to create a conda lock file for Linux platforms,
+or run
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+   conda-lock lock --platform osx-64 -f environment.yml --mamba
+
+to create a lock file for OSX platforms. Note however, that using conda lock files on OSX is still problematic!