The transition towards a circular bioeconomy (CBE) in the European Union is not without contestation. In particular, research has highlighted potential trade-offs of the large-scale production of bio-resources, for instance with environmental quality goals. To date, however, it remains underexplored in the CBE literature how controversies develop throughout a transition process. To address this gap, this paper explores where controversies are situated in a transition, how they change throughout, and how they influence the transition process. First, we suggest that controversies can be situated on and between different system layers within a transition. Second, we offer an explanation of how controversies evolve, as actors confirm, integrate, disintegrate and polarize underlying storylines. Third, these controversies can have both productive and unproductive outcomes while they unfold throughout a transition. We illustrate this understanding with the example of biorefineries as CBE key technology and discuss a research agenda on controversies in sustainability transitions.

欧盟向循环生物经济 (CBE) 的过渡并非没有争议。特别是，研究强调了生物资源大规模生产的潜在权衡，例如环境质量目标。然而，迄今为止，在 CBE 文献中仍未充分探讨争议如何在整个过渡过程中发展。为了解决这一差距，本文探讨了争议在转型中的位置，它们如何在整个过程中发生变化，以及它们如何影响转型过程。首先，我们建议争议可以位于过渡期间的不同系统层之上和之间。其次，我们解释了随着演员确认、整合、瓦解和分化潜在故事情节，争议如何演变。第三，这些争议在整个过渡期间展开时，可能会产生有成效的结果，也可能会产生无成效的结果。我们以生物精炼厂作为 CBE 关键技术的例子来说明这种理解，并讨论关于可持续性转型争议的研究议程。