Andrew Grant steps down as CEO of CO2 Group Ltd, the largest carbon developer in Australia, as government draws on a new policy to adjust to climate change, thereby forcing the company to consider investing into new business areas.

According to CO2's official statement Tuesday, Mr Grant will resign from his position as CEO, after leading the company for around ten years:

"Recent changes in government policy, the proposed abolition of the current carbon pricing regime and continuing uncertainty in the carbon market generally has led the company to reduce the scale of its carbon operations and pursue new growth areas," as quoted by Reuters.

Under Mr Grant's guidance, CO2 Group has been working on balance projects mostly in the forestry sector. They mainly build up carbon credits and market it to other companies who aim to use the credits for meeting greenhouse gas emission targets put in place by the Australian government.

However, the relatively new Australian administration draws plans to phase out the country's trading scheme on the gas emissions. Under the new policy, the government would form a public fund that would compensate gas emitters for reducing their pollution outputs.

Analysts say project developers like CO2 could still produce balance credits under the new policy; however, the demand is highly likely to be insignificant in number. This is because the specifics on the regulation are still uncertain, even the exact date of implementation.

In a statement made to Reuters late last year, Mr Grant said CO2 "haven't had any investment interest in 18 months".

To cope with the changes and as part of the company's new strategy to move away from the carbon business, CO2 Group Ltd has acquired Seafarm, a company focusing on culturing prawns, earlier this month.