To live in a family environment that cares about sustainable development and is also engaged with community life enable children to grow up as involved members of a liveable and fair world.

Families in particular, through the ways they live, move around and consume, can have a significant impact on the development of our society. They are mindful of that role, and clearly have a growing desire for and interest in more civic-minded and responsible consuming.

This being so, COFACE has set itself the following objective: to build awareness and guide Europe's families towards "more sustainable consumption". But such controlled and responsible consumption is inseparable from the supply of sustainable goods by industries and businesses, as well as the ways they are organised, and this makes "sustainable production" vital to linking family and working life, such as through company clean travel plans, training in sustainable development, etc.. Public authorities - both national and European - also have a major role to play by taking measures that enable a sustainable development policy to be framed for our societies and our families.

COFACE, as a family and consumer citizen organisation, is mindful of the efforts that families must make in order to change their behaviour in a way that enables society to develop in a sustainable manner. It will support the framing and implementation of long-term policies by the European institutions which combine environmental protection with economic performance and social equity. It is concerned that recognition be given to the interests of all the world's most vulnerable communities.