LONDON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Britain's envoy for the United Nations (UN) climate conference COP26 has said China's promise to be carbon neutral by 2060 could help the world avoid a climate catastrophe, local media reported on Thursday.

"It's a really important thing that China has made this commitment as there's no way that the world would be able to meet Paris goals of keeping temperature rise to no more than 2C (degrees Celsius) -- and as close to 1.5C (degrees Celsius) -- if China hadn't made this sort of commitment," John Murton, Britain's envoy for COP26, told Sky News.

The UN climate talks COP26, originally scheduled to take place in Glasgow, Scotland in November this year, was postponed until next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Murton said China's pledge is a positive thing for the COP26 conference, as it could persuade other nations to make similar targets.

The pledge tells other big emitters that these sorts of reductions are possible, he was quoted as saying.

China aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Tuesday.

Xi made the remarks during the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video link.

"China will scale up its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by adopting more vigorous policies and measures," he said, calling on the international community to take decisive steps to honor the Paris agreement on climate change.