diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ef5f116..511d947 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Removed
+
+- Stopped setting the `LANG` env var. ([#306](https://github.com/heroku/buildpacks-python/pull/306))
+
 ## [0.20.1] - 2024-12-13
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/src/layers/python.rs b/src/layers/python.rs
index 785a6c2..81d1587 100644
--- a/src/layers/python.rs
+++ b/src/layers/python.rs
@@ -176,14 +176,6 @@ fn generate_layer_env(layer_path: &Path, python_version: &PythonVersion) -> Laye
             )),
         )
         .chainable_insert(Scope::Build, ModificationBehavior::Delimiter, "CPATH", ":")
-        // Ensure Python uses a Unicode locale, to prevent the issues described in:
-        // https://github.com/docker-library/python/pull/570
-        .chainable_insert(
-            Scope::All,
-            ModificationBehavior::Override,
-            "LANG",
-            "C.UTF-8",
-        )
         // We have to set `PKG_CONFIG_PATH` explicitly, since the automatic path set by lifecycle/libcnb
         // is `<layer>/pkgconfig/`, whereas Python's pkgconfig files are at `<layer>/lib/pkgconfig/`.
         .chainable_insert(
@@ -330,7 +322,6 @@ mod tests {
     fn python_layer_env() {
         let mut base_env = Env::new();
         base_env.insert("CPATH", "/base");
-        base_env.insert("LANG", "this-should-be-overridden");
         base_env.insert("PKG_CONFIG_PATH", "/base");
         base_env.insert("PYTHONHOME", "this-should-be-overridden");
         base_env.insert("PYTHONUNBUFFERED", "this-should-be-overridden");
@@ -341,7 +332,6 @@ mod tests {
             utils::environment_as_sorted_vector(&layer_env.apply(Scope::Build, &base_env)),
             [
                 ("CPATH", "/layer-dir/include/python3.11:/base"),
-                ("LANG", "C.UTF-8"),
                 ("PKG_CONFIG_PATH", "/layer-dir/lib/pkgconfig:/base"),
                 ("PYTHONHOME", "/layer-dir"),
                 ("PYTHONUNBUFFERED", "1"),
@@ -352,7 +342,6 @@ mod tests {
             utils::environment_as_sorted_vector(&layer_env.apply(Scope::Launch, &base_env)),
             [
                 ("CPATH", "/base"),
-                ("LANG", "C.UTF-8"),
                 ("PKG_CONFIG_PATH", "/base"),
                 ("PYTHONHOME", "/layer-dir"),
                 ("PYTHONUNBUFFERED", "1"),
diff --git a/tests/pip_test.rs b/tests/pip_test.rs
index 0feea07..5f8b712 100644
--- a/tests/pip_test.rs
+++ b/tests/pip_test.rs
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ fn pip_basic_install_and_cache_reuse() {
                 
                 ## Testing buildpack ##
                 CPATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/include:/layers/heroku_python/python/include/python3.13:/layers/heroku_python/python/include
-                LANG=C.UTF-8
                 LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/lib:/layers/heroku_python/python/lib:/layers/heroku_python/pip/lib
                 LIBRARY_PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/lib:/layers/heroku_python/python/lib:/layers/heroku_python/pip/lib
                 PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/bin:/layers/heroku_python/python/bin:/layers/heroku_python/pip/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
@@ -84,7 +83,6 @@ fn pip_basic_install_and_cache_reuse() {
         assert_eq!(
             command_output.stdout,
             formatdoc! {"
-                LANG=C.UTF-8
                 LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/lib:/layers/heroku_python/python/lib
                 PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/bin:/layers/heroku_python/python/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
                 PIP_PYTHON=/layers/heroku_python/venv
diff --git a/tests/poetry_test.rs b/tests/poetry_test.rs
index 81b7a4d..05887af 100644
--- a/tests/poetry_test.rs
+++ b/tests/poetry_test.rs
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ fn poetry_basic_install_and_cache_reuse() {
                 
                 ## Testing buildpack ##
                 CPATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/include:/layers/heroku_python/python/include/python3.13:/layers/heroku_python/python/include
-                LANG=C.UTF-8
                 LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/lib:/layers/heroku_python/python/lib:/layers/heroku_python/poetry/lib
                 LIBRARY_PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/lib:/layers/heroku_python/python/lib:/layers/heroku_python/poetry/lib
                 PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/bin:/layers/heroku_python/python/bin:/layers/heroku_python/poetry/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
@@ -77,7 +76,6 @@ fn poetry_basic_install_and_cache_reuse() {
         assert_eq!(
             command_output.stdout,
             formatdoc! {"
-                LANG=C.UTF-8
                 LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/lib:/layers/heroku_python/python/lib
                 PATH=/layers/heroku_python/venv/bin:/layers/heroku_python/python/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
                 PYTHONHOME=/layers/heroku_python/python