Slippery road surfaces are a threat to traffic safety, especially in winter when snow falling on roads forms a hard crust that is extremely difficult to remove. To prevent this hard crust formation, salt is applied to roads. However, large amounts of salt are harmful to the environment and expensive. Therefore, optimization of salt applications has become a priority for transportation agencies. This study evaluates the effects of sodium chloride (NaCl) aqueous solution on compacted snow through a field investigation. A test car was driven on snow mixed with different amounts of aqueous NaCl solution (from 0% to 40% by weight); this experimental run was repeated approximately 20 times. A scraping test was also performed to evaluate the compacted salted snow’s strength. The study found that an aqueous solution content of 10% by weight keeps snow loose and easily removable from the road, but an aqueous solution of 5% by weight weakens the snow substantially, allowing the snow mixture to be more easily plowed.

The EU taxonomy defines criteria for economic activities committed to a net zero emission by 2050, and other environmental goals. Its overall goal is to direct investments to economic activities aligned with the European Green Deal and, thereby, classified as sustainable. For industrial organizations, there is an urgent need to develop adaptive capabilities to meet the requirements set by the new taxonomy. The present scoping review contributes by analyzing academic publications on this topic through the lens of a complex science and systems approach. It analyzes academic publications on the EU taxonomy, related to industrial organizations and their development of socio-technical systems. At the initial stage, 526 scientific publications were retrieved from three web repositories (Scopus, World of Science, and Scholar). Only eight publications matched the selection criteria and constitute the data of this study. Results indicate that there is a lack of holistic perspectives and an unbalanced system response to the EU taxonomy. Adopting a systems approach can help industrial organizations navigate the intricate dynamics of a sustainable transition, striking a balance between adhering to the EU taxonomy and maintaining market competitiveness. The findings emphasize the importance of trans-disciplinary approaches and the need for agile and adaptive ways of learning inside industrial organizations.

The climate crisis threatens the sustainable development of our planet. Mitigating the complexity of the sustainable challenge needs a holistic and systematic perspective. Systems solutions, such as systems thinking and systems engineering, can help to mitigate such challenges. Systems engineering in particular has to assist in transdisciplinary development and cooperation. Methods, tools, and methodologies in systems engineering can be key enablers to align the present world condition towards sustainable trajectories. To align with the sustainable transition, industrial organizations need to integrate sustainability at their core: the system’s development. Realizing socio-technical systems that are sustainable is not a triviality. Based on industry interviews and a literature study, this article discusses these challenges and presents how systems thinking and systems engineering disciplines may support industries to mitigate the same. To realize sustainable systems this work suggests i) identifying sustainability as a quality of the system; ii) collecting environmentally sustainable (big) data; and iii) establishing a collaborative environment among stakeholders where to discuss challenges related to the system’s lifecycle.