The climate emergency is affecting communities worldwide, but will disproportionately impact on disadvantaged communities and on the next generation – this makes it an issue of both structural and intergenerational injustice. With rare exceptions, the responses of governments in Australia and across the globe are in no way commensurate with the threat we are facing.

Peace psychologists in Australia have been closely aligned with community psychology for more than thirty years, sharing research and skills on international, inter-group and interpersonal conflict resolution, non-violent protest, and the impacts of issues including media violence, war toys and the nuclear threat on children. Harnessing that alliance of values and action-oriented methods in the context of the climate emergency, this roundtable discussion provides an opportunity for all of us troubled by the inadequacy of current actions to share our concerns, learn from small successes and discuss ways forward. We will explore the roles of psychologists (as practitioners, researchers and teachers) in addressing the emergency in ways which build justice, social cohesion and resilience. We will consider how responses to the emergency might generate collaboration across traditional boundaries, including between young and old, city and country, the global north and global south, first nations and settlers – and also within psychology. In keeping with the core community psychology principle of foregrounding the communities most likely to be affected by the problem and any proposed solutions, we will consider the recent efforts by a group of Australian community and peace psychologists working alongside young people to inform psychology’s responses to this global (and increasingly local) emergency. Building on the Australian Psychological Society’s youth-focused initiative on climate change for 2019 Psychology Week (https://psychweek.org.au/social-justice-youth-advisory-group/), young people are given centre stage in helping us identify novel processes and socially just solutions.