Sylvain Coutu
Nationality: Suisse
Expertise
• Nature Finance
• Agriculture financial risk management
• Environmental engineering
• Insurance industry
• Agriculture financial risk management
• Environmental engineering
• Insurance industry
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
• PhD in Environmental Engineering (EPFL)
• Master in Environmental Fluid Mechanics (exchange, MIT - Universita di Genova)
• Diplôme d'ingénieur des grandes écoles (ENGEES)
• Master in Environmental Fluid Mechanics (exchange, MIT - Universita di Genova)
• Diplôme d'ingénieur des grandes écoles (ENGEES)
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
• Senior Expert Advisor at Nature Finance [since 2024
• Member of FAO Technical Finance Committee (FTAC) on Food Security [since 2024]
• Advisory Board of Quideos (Agriculture/Fintech start-up) [since 2024]
• Selected as Top-10 most innovative global AgriTech leaders The Inc Magazine [2023]
• Advisory Board of Green Triangle (Agriculture/Insurtech start-up) [since 2018]
• Chair of Agriculture Finance for NASA Harvest, NASA's agriculture program [since 2016]
• FNSF post-Doc grant to Stanford University [2013]
• Boston - Strasbourg Twin's science scholarship to MIT [2008]
• Member of FAO Technical Finance Committee (FTAC) on Food Security [since 2024]
• Advisory Board of Quideos (Agriculture/Fintech start-up) [since 2024]
• Selected as Top-10 most innovative global AgriTech leaders The Inc Magazine [2023]
• Advisory Board of Green Triangle (Agriculture/Insurtech start-up) [since 2018]
• Chair of Agriculture Finance for NASA Harvest, NASA's agriculture program [since 2016]
• FNSF post-Doc grant to Stanford University [2013]
• Boston - Strasbourg Twin's science scholarship to MIT [2008]
WORK EXPERIENCE
• Head of Agirculture & Nature Insurance at AXA Climate
• Head of Innovation Special Lines at Swiss Re
• Senior Agriculture Underwriter Agriculture at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions
• Research Engineering at European Space Agency
• Head of Innovation Special Lines at Swiss Re
• Senior Agriculture Underwriter Agriculture at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions
• Research Engineering at European Space Agency
Selected publications
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 – Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms (2024)
Coutu S. and multiple others
Published in FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO in
Proceedings of the Workshop on Alternative Business Models for Pesticide Reduction (2024)
Coutu S. et multiple others
Published in European Commission in
Carbon farming: integrate biodiversity metrics (2022)
Sylvain Coutu, Inbal Becker-Reshef, Loïc Pellissier
Published in Nature in
Food security: underpin with public and private data sharing (2020)
Sylvain Coutu, Inbal Becker-Reshef, Alyssa K. Whitcraft, Chris Justice
Published in Nature in
Leveraging Earth Observations to Inform Early Action and Policy, in Support of Food Security (2019)
I. Becker-Reshef, S. Coutu et al
Published in AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts in
Teaching & PhD
Courses
Nature finance
MGT-541
This course explores the many financial instruments that can come as a support for protection and regeneration of natural assets.