The rise of shale resources in the United States is changing the petrochemical industries. Ethylene, the first building block of petrochemical products, is becoming the first target to be hit by the shale boom, and its shifting price dynamics needs to be explored. This study analyzes the transition of ethylene prices from crude oil to natural gas (vertical price dynamics) and investigates widening gaps among regional ethylene prices (horizontal price dynamics). To do this, we detect structural changes in cointegrating relationships and derive time-varying cointegration equations. In addition, for the long- and short-run dynamics, this study established and estimated an error correction model (ECM), with controlling, time-varying cointegrations. This study develops econometric studies by applying time-varying cointegration to nonenergy uses of fossil fuels. Thereby, our results discover that the feedstock structure of US ethylene is moving from crude oil to natural gas and that the comovement of US and Japanese prices is getting intensified.

The government of Republic of Korea expressed its willingness to expand climate technology transfer programs to fulfill its responsibilities under the Paris Agreement. In order to achieve success with such plans, it is crucial to evaluate partner states’ readiness for climate technology cooperation. However, most existing indexes on technology transfer merely focus on the business feasibility of such programs or their climate change response effectiveness. Hence, this study develops the Climate Technology Cooperation Readiness Assessment Framework to measure various determinants of cooperative readiness. Based upon literature reviews, the framework consists of three major themes (enabling environment for climate technology cooperation, accessibility of climate finance, and climate technology cooperation capacity) and nine components. The framework was evaluated by six climate finance experts with more than ten years of experience in climate finance. They found that our framework incorporates technology cooperation capacities of countries and climate finance overlooked by previous indexes. Furthermore, they suggested that the framework be utilized to design strategies to supplement various risks in terms of project implementation, rather than using it to select projects among different partner countries.