Capital Alternatives, one of the UK's leading providers of alternative investments, has opened an office in Dubai to offer wealthy individuals and expats the opportunity to invest in the rapidly expanding alternative investments market.

The company offers a range of products including gold, oil, agricultural land and a government backed carbon credits scheme. It has opened in the Arab state as it believes investors based in the Middle East are looking for good returns in uncertain times for the world’s stock markets.

Its current leading product is what it believes to be the world’s first carbon credit scheme backed by law with a Government guaranteed price floor offered through Capital Carbon Credits, or CCC.

CCC is linking up with Sydney-based Citola Resources to take advantage of the Australian Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative under The Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011.

Under the act, farmers and landowners can earn income by both producing carbon offsets and reducing carbon emissions with a guaranteed buy back price of A$ 23 per tonne — compared to a price of £7 currently available for carbon credits in Europe. The project will involve seeding and planting suitable trees to create bio-diverse woodland capable of producing carbon credits for sale to Australia’s heavy industry including miners and energy companies. It will be managed by Citola Resources.

There will be 320 hectares of approved land in the Gippsland region of Victoria and investors will be able to license 0.5 hectare plots for 15 years at £9,000 per plot. The price includes all planting, management, maintenance, administrative and insurance costs.

With the lowest price per tonne guaranteed by the Australian Government, projected returns vary from 30 per cent and above depending on how long investors hold their licences for.

Australian companies will not be allowed to buy carbon credits to offset their emissions abroad until after 2015. Even then half of their credits must be bought from domestic sources.

However, holders of the Carbon Farming Initiative credits will be able to sell to international buyers from 2015 as Australian Carbon Credit Units, or ACCUs, which will be designed to qualify as either Kyoto-compliant ACCUs or National Carbon Offset Standard units.