China's policy of forestation is likely playing "a significant role" in curbing the impacts of climate change as carbon dioxide absorption in two new forest areas in the country had been "underestimated", local media reported.

A report published in Nature journal shows that the role of two carbon sink areas, located on China's southwestern Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces, and northeastern Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, respectively, had previously under-appreciated.

Taken together, these areas account for a little over 35 percent of China's entire land carbon sink, according to the international team which conducted the research based on ground and satellite observations.

"Bold scientific statements must be supported by massive amounts of evidence and this is what we have done in this study," Professor Paul Palmer, a co-author from Edinburgh University told the BBC.

"We have collected together a range of ground-based and satellite data-driven evidence to form a consistent and robust narrative about the Chinese carbon cycle," Palmer added.

China has announced that it aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

"Achieving China's net-zero target by 2060...will involve a massive change in energy production and also the growth of sustainable land carbon sinks," co-author Professor Yi Liu from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, was quoted as saying.

"The afforestation activities described in (our Nature) paper will play a role in achieving that target," he said.