Kweichou Moutai’s soil-to-soil circularity modelCase study 1 Headquartered in Guizhou, Moutai is a leading Chinese liquor producer renowned for its traditional brewing craftsmanship and dominant market position in the premium baijiu (traditional Chinese liquor) sector. Leveraging the Chishui River Basin’s unique ecosystem, the company is committed to full value-chain environmental stewardship, allocating 1.5% of its operating revenue to dedicated environmental stewardship. It promotes circular economy practices, achieving 100% resource utilization of its brewing by-products. Technology and business model innovations Food and water circularity –“Soil-to-soil” circular economy: Built circular industrial parks to convert brewing by-products into organic fertilizer, feed and biogas, closing the loop with organic farming. Expanded into biotech by leveraging microbial expertise to transform brewing waste into high-value products like collagen, peptides and biodegradable materials (PHA). –Water circularity: Implemented advanced denitrification and anti-scaling technologies in wastewater treatment, alongside reclaimed water reuse to enhance water recycling efficiency. Green production and logistics –Achieved 100% green power coverage in production through renewable energy procurement and applied technologies such as CO2 heat pumps to cut energy use and emissions. Sustainable packaging –Explored bio-based packaging film, packaging (bottle) base and biodegradable ribbons. Piloted glass bottle recycling. Others –Microbial conservation: Preserved indigenous microbes and developed AI models to assess ecosystem capacity for sustainable production. Outcomes –Water efficiency: Reduced water consumption per unit of product by 7.3% compared to 2023. –Energy recovery: Achieved ~90% heat recovery rate in sauce fragrance liquor distillation. –Carbon reduction: Lowered CO2 emissions per industrial output unit by 19% compared to 2020. –By-product utilization: Achieved 100% resource utilization of brewing by-products. Lessons learned –Moutai’s closed-loop system achieves full by-product utilization and water-use efficiency improvement and emissions reduction. –However, scaling-up requires significant infrastructure investment and cross-sector collaboration.Source: Kweichou Moutai interviews and materials review. From Scarcity to Solutions: Food-Water Innovation in Asia and the Middle East 19

From Scarcity to Solutions 2025