White paper 07 · Annex B

Glossary and abbreviations

This glossary explains the technical terms, institutions and abbreviations used in this paper. Where a French term is in common use in Cameroon, it is given with its English equivalent.

Reading: 5 min
Length: 1,046 words
Edition of: 10 October 2026

Term	Meaning
AfDB	African Development Bank. Its Integrated Safeguards System (ISS, 2023) sets environmental and social requirements through ten operational safeguards (OS1 to OS10).
Airshed	The volume of air over an area within which pollutants mix. An airshed is "degraded" when ambient concentrations already exceed the applicable standard.
AQG	Air quality guideline level of the WHO (2021): the concentration below which health effects are considered minimal.
Area of influence	The area in which a project’s direct, indirect, induced and cumulative impacts may occur; usually much larger than the site.
Audiences publiques	Public hearings held on a finished detailed EIES in Cameroon, run by an ad hoc commission.
Bag filter (fabric filter)	Gas-cleaning equipment in which dust is captured on fabric bags; the standard technique for EAF fume.
Bagyeli (Bakola)	Forest peoples of the Océan department of Cameroon, recognised as Indigenous Peoples under international standards; their language is Gyele.
BAT	Best available techniques, as defined in European Union law; BAT conclusions set associated emission levels.
Baseline	The measured state of the environment and of communities before a project, against which impacts are predicted and monitored.
Blowdown	Water purged from a cooling circuit to limit the build-up of dissolved salts.
CAMS	Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, which produces modelled air quality reanalyses.
CBAM	The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, in its definitive regime since 1 January 2026 for iron and steel imports.
CCE	Certificat de Conformité Environnementale: the certificate issued by MINEPDED after a favourable review of an EIES.
CEMS	Continuous emission monitoring system, installed on a stack.
CIE	Comité Interministériel de l’Environnement: the interministerial committee that gives its opinion on an EIES before the decision.
Critical habitat	In IFC Performance Standard 6, an area of high biodiversity value meeting one or more of five criteria; projects there must achieve net gains.
Cumulative impacts	The combined effects of a project with other existing, planned or reasonably foreseeable developments on the same receptors.
DRI / HBI	Direct-reduced iron / hot-briquetted iron: iron produced by removing oxygen from ore without melting, used as clean metallic charge in an EAF.
DUP	Déclaration d’utilité publique: the declaration of public utility that opens the expropriation procedure.
EAF	Electric arc furnace: a furnace that melts scrap and other metallic charge with electric arcs.
EAF dust	Fine dust collected from EAF off-gas; classed as hazardous because of its zinc, lead and cadmium content.
EES	Évaluation environnementale stratégique: strategic environmental assessment of a plan, programme or zone.
EHS Guidelines	The World Bank Group’s Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines (General, and sector guidelines such as Integrated Steel Mills, 2007).
EIES	Étude d’impact environnemental et social: the environmental and social impact assessment. Cameroon distinguishes the EIES détaillée (detailed) from the EIES sommaire (summary).
EP4	The fourth version of the Equator Principles (2020), a risk-management framework adopted by financial institutions.
ERA5	The fifth-generation global climate reanalysis of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
ESAP	Environmental and social action plan agreed with lenders and made a condition of financing.
ESMP / PGES	Environmental and social management plan (plan de gestion environnementale et sociale).
Établissement classé	Classified establishment: an installation subject to authorisation or declaration because of its hazards or nuisances.
Étude des dangers	Hazard study required for first-class classified establishments, covering major-accident scenarios.
FPIC	Free, prior and informed consent: the agreement of affected Indigenous Peoples, reached through good-faith negotiation, required by IFC PS7 in defined circumstances.
GHG	Greenhouse gases, expressed in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e).
Grievance mechanism	A process through which people can raise concerns or complaints about a project and receive a response.
IBAT	Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool, a database for screening biodiversity features near a site.
IFC	International Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group.
Interim target (IT)	An intermediate air quality level in the WHO guidelines for places where the guideline is not yet met.
IUCN Red List	The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s assessment of species’ extinction risk (Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, and so on).
KPIZ	Kribi Port Industrial Zone S.A., the company that develops and manages the integrated industrial zone of the Port of Kribi.
Ladle furnace	Secondary steelmaking unit in which liquid steel is refined and its temperature adjusted after the EAF.
MINEE	Ministry of Water and Energy.
MINEPDED	Ministry of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development.
MINFOF	Ministry of Forests and Wildlife.
MINMIDT	Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, responsible for classified establishments.
Mill scale	Iron oxide that forms on hot steel and flakes off during casting and rolling; recyclable as iron units.
Mitigation hierarchy	The sequence avoid, minimise, restore, offset, applied in that order to adverse impacts.
Natural habitat	Areas composed of viable assemblages of largely native species, or where human activity has not essentially modified primary functions (IFC PS6).
NIE	Notice d’impact environnemental: the simplest environmental instrument in Cameroon, for minor operations.
Non-designated country	Under EP4, a country not listed as having robust environmental and social governance; the IFC Performance Standards apply in full.
PAK	Port Autonome de Kribi, the public company that manages the port and its domain.
PCDD/F	Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans ("dioxins and furans"), expressed as toxic equivalents (TEQ or I-TEQ).
PM10 / PM2.5	Particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter below 10 or 2.5 micrometres.
Performance Standards (PS1 to PS8)	The IFC’s eight environmental and social standards (2012).
Post-combustion	Burning of carbon monoxide and organic compounds in EAF off-gas before cooling.
Quench	Rapid cooling of off-gas through the temperature window in which dioxins re-form.
Reanalysis	A model-based reconstruction of past weather or air quality, constrained by observations; labelled "modelled" in this paper.
Return period	The average interval between events of a given size; a 100-year storm has a 1% chance of occurring in any year.
Scope 1, 2, 3	Direct emissions (Scope 1), emissions from purchased electricity (Scope 2), and other value-chain emissions (Scope 3).
Slag	Non-metallic by-product of steelmaking, formed from fluxes and oxides; processed EAF slag is used as aggregate.
Waelz kiln	Rotary kiln used to recover zinc from EAF dust.
WHO	World Health Organization.

Source: Cameroon Steel, from the legal texts and standards cited in Annex C.

Cite this chapter

Cameroon Steel (2026). Building responsibly in Kribi: a steelworks can meet international standards on four conditions. White paper 07, annex B: Glossary and abbreviations. CS-WP-07. https://www.cameroon-steel.com/en/library/responsible-kribi/annex-glossary/