In an era of renewed great-power politics, the intensifying US-China rivalry has direct implications for environmental governance and ecological outcomes. Coordinated policies and solutions and effective global environmental governance are needed to address the global biodiversity crisis. Can the US-China rivalry and its confrontational dynamics be channeled into conservation policymaking to improve biodiversity outcomes? Drawing from international relations and policy studies, policy diffusion theory can provide conservationists with useful insights into the interdependency of policy decisions. This presentation examines the four mechanisms – competition, coercion, learning and emulation – that comprise the classic model of policy diffusion theory in the context of environmental policymaking. This talk explores how each mechanism can benefit biodiversity conservation, and discusses examples of relevant policies and actions. To operationalize this concept for conservation, a novel decision tree will be presented that conservationists can use to determine the most relevant policy diffusion mechanism in different policy contexts. Once the appropriate mechanism has been determined, conservationists can then take further steps to intentionally trigger the mechanism and catalyze the diffusion of conservation policies across jurisdictions.