Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday China will "overachieve" its goal to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

"I think they will overachieve that goal," said Gore in an interview with Washington Post Live.

"They have a history of planning their work and then working their plan. They put out goals only when they are absolutely certain they can reach them, and they often overachieve," Gore said.

Gore said it was surprising to many when Chinese President Xi Jinping made his announcement last fall that China is striving for its CO2 emissions peak by 2030 and net zero emission by 2060.

Addressing the Leaders Summit on Climate via video link from Beijing on Thursday, Xi reiterated the country's emission reduction goals and said China will continue to prioritize ecological conservation and pursue a green and low-carbon development path.

Xi said it requires "extraordinarily hard efforts" for China to realize its goals to moving from carbon peak to carbon neutrality, which is in a much shorter time span than what might take many developed countries.