LONDON, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Britain welcomes China's recent announcement of becoming carbon neutral before 2060, British Environment Secretary George Eustice said on Thursday.

"The UK welcomes China's announcement this week on achieving carbon neutrality before 2060 and enhancing its own NDC (nationally determined contribution) -- so we look forward to hearing more and to working together," Eustice said.

"And we must also put our words into action -- and in this area the UK is keen to play its part, both at home and around the world," Eustice said in a statement during an online ministerial round-table meeting on biodiversity jointly held by China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

Eustice agreed that Britain and China should work together as incoming presidents for "ambitious, integrated outcomes" at the United Nations (UN) Biodiversity Conference COP15 to be held in the city of Kunming in southwestern China and the UN climate conference COP26 in city of Glasgow, Scotland next year, according to the statement released by the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

"At next year's conferences in Kunming and Glasgow, we have the opportunity to bring the world together to commit to reversing biodiversity loss, and to make protecting and conserving nature part of tackling climate change and poverty too," Eustice said.

Earlier this week, Britain's envoy for COP26, John Murton, said China's emissions promise could help the world avoid climate catastrophe.

"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 (degree Celsius) -- and as close to 1.5C (degree Celsius) -- if China hadn't made this sort of commitment," Murton told Sky News.

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

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.