diff --git a/lib/util/emoji.spec.ts b/lib/util/emoji.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b07114595662db327a716a96e955a6fd046ec741
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/util/emoji.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import { getName } from '../../test/util';
+import { setEmojiConfig, unemojify } from './emoji';
+
+describe(getName(__filename), () => {
+  it('strips emojis when the config has been set accordingly', () => {
+    const emoji = '🚀💎';
+    const otherText = 'regular text';
+    const text = `${emoji} ${otherText}`;
+    setEmojiConfig({ unicodeEmoji: false });
+    const result = unemojify(text);
+    expect(result).not.toContain(emoji);
+  });
+
+  it('does not strip emojis when the config demands it', () => {
+    const emoji = '🚀💎';
+    const otherText = 'regular text';
+    const text = `${emoji} ${otherText}`;
+    setEmojiConfig({ unicodeEmoji: true });
+    const result = unemojify(text);
+    expect(result).toEqual(text);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/lib/util/emoji.ts b/lib/util/emoji.ts
index 98bb11857557282d7dac59a6bee48c9d2a6d81c2..fbcad748d64f37923da4e1b4464c634044276a81 100644
--- a/lib/util/emoji.ts
+++ b/lib/util/emoji.ts
@@ -10,3 +10,7 @@ export function setEmojiConfig(_config: RenovateConfig): void {
 export function emojify(text: string): string {
   return unicodeEmoji ? emoji.emojify(text) : text;
 }
+
+export function unemojify(text: string): string {
+  return unicodeEmoji ? text : emoji.unemojify(text);
+}
diff --git a/lib/workers/pr/body/changelogs.ts b/lib/workers/pr/body/changelogs.ts
index 0dfce4ab8bd3fadba50fe5b3d75dee3f80c59a7b..a0e62d6910b346b315c9c58711629adee7fcbb28 100644
--- a/lib/workers/pr/body/changelogs.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/pr/body/changelogs.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { unemojify } from '../../../util/emoji';
 import { sanitizeMarkdown } from '../../../util/markdown';
 import * as template from '../../../util/template';
 import type { BranchConfig } from '../../types';
@@ -13,5 +14,7 @@ export function getChangelogs(config: BranchConfig): string {
     '\n\n---\n\n' + template.compile(releaseNotesHbs, config, false) + '\n\n';
   releaseNotes = releaseNotes.replace(/### \[`vv/g, '### [`v');
   releaseNotes = sanitizeMarkdown(releaseNotes);
+  releaseNotes = unemojify(releaseNotes);
+
   return releaseNotes;
 }