We present a simple algebraic mechanism for the emergence of deformations of Poincaré symmetries in the low-energy limit of quantum theories of gravity. The deformations, called κ-Poincaré algebras, are parametrized by a dimensional parameter proportional to the Planck mass, and imply modified energy–momentum relations of a type that may be observable in near future experiments. Our analysis assumes that the low energy limit of a quantum theory of gravity must also involve a limit in which the cosmological constant is taken very small with respect to the Planck scale, and makes use of the fact that in some quantum theories of gravity the cosmological constant results in the (anti)de Sitter symmetry algebra being quantum deformed. We show that deformed Poincaré symmetries inevitably emerge in the small-cosmological-constant limit of quantum gravity in 2 + 1 dimensions, where geometry does not have local degrees of freedom. In 3 + 1 dimensions we observe that, besides the quantum deformation of the (anti)de Sitter symmetry algebra, one must also take into account that there are local degrees of freedom leading to a renormalization of the generators for energy and momentum of the excitations. At the present level of development of quantum gravity in 3 + 1 dimensions, it is not yet possible to derive this renormalization from first principles, but we establish the conditions needed for the emergence of a deformed low energy limit symmetry algebra also in the case of 3 + 1 dimensions.