diff --git a/news/4797.feature.rst b/news/4797.feature.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e2d7b3d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/4797.feature.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Use environment variable `PIPENV_SKIP_LOCK` to control the behaviour of lock skipping.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pipenv/environments.py b/pipenv/environments.py
index 4395e7cd..aad662b1 100644
--- a/pipenv/environments.py
+++ b/pipenv/environments.py
@@ -313,13 +313,15 @@ class Setting:
         if interactive.
         """
 
-        self.PIPENV_SKIP_LOCK = False
+        self.PIPENV_SKIP_LOCK = bool(os.environ.get("PIPENV_SKIP_LOCK", False))
         """If set, Pipenv won't lock dependencies automatically.
 
         This might be desirable if a project has large number of dependencies,
         because locking is an inherently slow operation.
 
         Default is to lock dependencies and update ``Pipfile.lock`` on each run.
+        
+        Usage: `export PIPENV_SKIP_LOCK=true` OR `export PIPENV_SKIP_LOCK=1` to skip automatic locking
 
         NOTE: This only affects the ``install`` and ``uninstall`` commands.
         """