Richard Douthwaite is an economist and writer. He is the co-founder of the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, an economic think-tank based in Ireland. He acted as economic adviser to the Global Commons Institute from 1993 to 2005 during which time GCI developed the 'contraction and convergence' approach to dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. His books include The Growth Illusion (1992) and The Ecology of Money (1999).