EIB, European Commission and ADOPEM launch €5.6m Team Europe package for sargassum in the Dominican Republic

What the package provides

The EIB, via EIB Global, and Banco ADOPEM signed a €4.5 million financing agreement — backed by an EFSD+ guarantee and subject to approval by the Superintendency of Banks of the Dominican Republic — to channel long‑term finance to microenterprises and SMEs active in sargassum collection, transport and safe storage. Complementary €1.1 million technical assistance from the European Commission, supported by EIB Advisory, will be available to ADOPEM and other Dominican lenders.

Objectives and scope

The Team Europe package aims to shift responses from reactive clean‑ups to a safe, sustainable and commercially viable sargassum value chain that creates local business opportunities, supports jobs and strengthens coastal resilience, while ensuring health, safety and environmental risks are managed.

Implementation and support

Technical assistance will help identify and prepare financeable projects, design tailored financing solutions, and build technical knowledge, environmental safeguards and compliance capacity. The work builds on an EIB‑commissioned value‑chain study financed by Luxembourg and presented to Dominican institutions in June 2025.

Context and targets

The agreement was announced at the 4th EU‑Caribbean Global Gateway Conference in Cancún and backs the Global Gateway “Turning the Tide” flagship. The broader regional target is to collect 660,000 tonnes of sargassum by 2027, including 150,000 tonnes in the Dominican Republic.