diff --git a/.prospector.yml b/.prospector.yml
index 15fc8b71e9..dbc62018eb 100644
--- a/.prospector.yml
+++ b/.prospector.yml
@@ -19,4 +19,4 @@ pep257:
     # disable rules that are allowed by the numpy convention
     # see https://github.com/PyCQA/pydocstyle/blob/master/src/pydocstyle/violations.py
     # and http://pydocstyle.readthedocs.io/en/latest/error_codes.html
-    disable: ['D107', 'D203', 'D212', 'D213', 'D402', 'D413']
+    disable: ['D107', 'D203', 'D212', 'D213', 'D402', 'D413', 'D416']
diff --git a/doc/sphinx/source/gensidebar.py b/doc/sphinx/source/gensidebar.py
index ac527f8da8..a076f9df59 100644
--- a/doc/sphinx/source/gensidebar.py
+++ b/doc/sphinx/source/gensidebar.py
@@ -76,7 +76,6 @@ def _header(project, text):
     _write("esmvalcore", "Diagnostic script interfaces", "interfaces")
     _write("esmvalcore", "Development", "develop/index")
     _write("esmvalcore", "Contributing", "contributing")
-    _write("esmvalcore", "Utilities", "utils")
     _write("esmvalcore", "ESMValCore API Reference", "api/esmvalcore")
     _write("esmvalcore", "Changelog", "changelog")
     _endl()
diff --git a/doc/sphinx/source/utils.rst b/doc/sphinx/source/utils.rst
index b78a1ae0ae..1beb3a9814 100644
--- a/doc/sphinx/source/utils.rst
+++ b/doc/sphinx/source/utils.rst
@@ -3,7 +3,15 @@
 Utilities
 *********
 
-This section provides information on small tools that are available in the ``esmvaltool/utils`` directory.
+This section provides information on small tools that are available in the
+`esmvaltool/utils <https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValTool/tree/master/esmvaltool/utils>`_
+directory.
+
+
+draft_release_notes.py
+======================
+
+Script for drafting release notes based on the titles of the GitHub pull requests that have been merged since the previous release.
 
 
 nclcodestyle
@@ -15,7 +23,6 @@ To use it, run
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
-
     nclcodestyle /path/to/file.ncl
 
 
@@ -35,3 +42,9 @@ test recipe settings
 --------------------
 
 A tool for generating recipes with various diagnostic settings, to test of those work.
+Install ESMValTool in development mode (``pip install -e '.[develop]'``) to make it available.
+To use it, run
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    test_recipe --help
diff --git a/esmvaltool/utils/draft_release_notes.py b/esmvaltool/utils/draft_release_notes.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..09aa71ee7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/esmvaltool/utils/draft_release_notes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+"""Draft release notes.
+
+To use this tool, follow these steps:
+1) `pip install pygithub`
+2) Create an access token and store it in the file ~/.github_api_key, see:
+https://help.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token-for-the-command-line
+3) set PREVIOUS_RELEASE to the date/time of the previous release in code below
+
+"""
+import datetime
+from pathlib import Path
+
+try:
+    from github import Github
+except ImportError:
+    print("Please `pip install pygithub`")
+
+try:
+    GITHUB_API_KEY = Path("~/.github_api_key").expanduser().read_text().strip()
+except FileNotFoundError:
+    print("Please create an access token and store it in the file "
+          "~/.github_api_key, see:\nhttps://help.github.com/en/github/"
+          "authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token-"
+          "for-the-command-line")
+
+from esmvalcore import __version__
+
+VERSION = f"v{__version__}"
+GITHUB_REPO = "ESMValGroup/ESMValCore"
+
+TITLES = {
+    'bug': 'Bug fixes',
+    'diagnostic': 'Diagnostics',
+    'fix for dataset': 'Fixes for datasets',
+    'observations': 'Observational and re-analysis dataset support',
+    'enhancement': 'Improvements',
+}
+
+
+def draft_notes_since(previous_release_date, labels):
+    """Draft release notes containing the merged pull requests.
+
+    Arguments
+    ---------
+    previous_release_date: datetime.datetime
+        date of the previous release
+    labels: list
+        list of GitHub labels that deserve separate sections
+    """
+    session = Github(GITHUB_API_KEY)
+    repo = session.get_repo(GITHUB_REPO)
+    pulls = repo.get_pulls(
+        state='closed',
+        sort='updated',
+        direction='desc',
+    )
+
+    lines = {}
+    for pull in pulls:
+        print(pull.updated_at, pull.merged_at, pull.number, pull.title)
+        if pull.updated_at < previous_release_date:
+            break
+        if pull.merged:
+            if pull.merged_at < previous_release_date:
+                continue
+            pr_labels = {label.name for label in pull.labels}
+            for label in labels:
+                if label in pr_labels:
+                    break
+            else:
+                label = 'enhancement'
+
+            user = pull.user
+            username = user.login if user.name is None else user.name
+            title = pull.title
+            title = title[0].upper() + title[1:]
+            line = (
+                f"-  {title} (`#{pull.number} "
+                f"<https://github.com/{GITHUB_REPO}/pull/{pull.number}>`__) "
+                f"`{username} <https://github.com/{user.login}>`__")
+            if label not in lines:
+                lines[label] = []
+            lines[label].append((pull.closed_at, line))
+
+    # Create sections
+    sections = [
+        VERSION,
+        '-' * len(VERSION),
+        '',
+        "This release includes",
+    ]
+    for label in sorted(lines):
+        entries = sorted(lines[label])  # sort by merge time
+        title = TITLES.get(label, label.title())
+        sections.append('\n'.join(['', title, '~' * len(title), '']))
+        sections.append('\n'.join(entry for _, entry in entries))
+    notes = '\n'.join(sections)
+
+    print(notes)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+
+    PREVIOUS_RELEASE = datetime.datetime(2020, 3, 31, 12)
+    LABELS = (
+        'bug',
+        'documentation',
+        'diagnostic',
+        'fix for dataset',
+        'preprocessor',
+        'observations',
+        'enhancement',
+    )
+
+    draft_notes_since(PREVIOUS_RELEASE, LABELS)