Measuring What Matters: Ekoa’s First EPD

Most wall protection starts with petroleum. Ekoa starts with plants—and now verified data proves our bio-based difference.

By Meg Bruce, Chief Commercial Officer

At Ekoa®, design starts with a simple idea: the best materials should be beautiful, high-performing, and genuinely better for people and planet.

With our first Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), that philosophy is now backed by independently verified data. The EPD quantifies how our use of rapidly renewable flax fibers lowers environmental impact while supporting healthier, more resilient interiors.

This disclosure builds on Ekoa’s broader sustainability platform—HPD, Intertek Clean Air GOLD, USDA BioPreferred, Declare Red List Free, and mindful MATERIALS—so architects, designers, and specifiers can see a full picture of both material health and environmental performance as they pursue LEED, WELL, Fitwel, and other sustainability goals.

Why an EPD Matters for Design

An Environmental Product Declaration is a third-party verified, lifecycle-based report that measures a product’s environmental impacts—from raw material extraction through manufacturing—using standardized methods (ISO 14025 and ISO 21930). It turns sustainability claims into comparable, decision-ready data.

For Ekoa, this EPD is more than a compliance checkbox; it’s a transparent snapshot of a plant-based material designed to perform beautifully while reducing impact across the wall protection and millwork categories.

Verified Low-Carbon, Bio-Based Performance

Ekoa’s embodied carbon of ~1.29 kg CO₂e/m² places it in a low-impact tier among architectural surfaces, while each square meter also stores 1.276 kg of biogenic carbon from flax growth—capturing CO₂ rather than relying solely on petrochemical inputs.

With approximately 72% bio-based content, Ekoa replaces a significant portion of fossil-based materials with rapidly renewable flax and plant-derived resins, offering a truly differentiated alternative to conventional wall and millwork finishes.

Design Advantages That Go Beyond Carbon

EPD data is only part of the story. Ekoa is engineered so that sustainability, durability, and aesthetics reinforce one another.

• Built-in finish
  The finish is integrated into the material itself—no extra coatings, no additional off-gassing layer, and no separate finish maintenance cycle. That reduces both environmental burden and long-term operational costs.
• Rapidly renewable sourcing
  Instead of relying on trees that take decades to mature, Ekoa leverages flax, which can grow in a single season. That eases pressure on forests while providing a scalable, agricultural feedstock.
• High-performance beauty
  Warm tones, rich grain, and vivid color options bring depth and tactility, while Ekoa’s scratch- and impact-resistant surface stands up to high-traffic spaces where typical decorative finishes struggle.

How Ekoa Compares

When biogenic carbon storage is factored in, Ekoa becomes a net carbon sink.

Ekoa’s production emits 1.29 kg CO₂e/m², but flax fibers store significantly more carbon—resulting in a net negative impact. This delivers a >278% reduction vs. vinyl wallcoverings and >250% reduction vs. most “PVC-free” alternatives.

Ekoa doesn’t just lower emissions—it actively sequesters more carbon than it emits, improving building carbon balances while delivering high performance and beauty.

What This Means in Practice

Choosing Ekoa lets design teams do more than “check the sustainability box.” It enables you to:

• Specify with confidence using independently verified environmental and health data instead of marketing claims.
• Communicate clearly with clients, ESG teams, and project stakeholders about material choices, carbon, and human health.
• Advance certification and climate goals by aligning material selections with LEED, WELL, Fitwel, and broader decarbonization strategies.

Ekoa’s plant-based composition supports interiors that are visually compelling, human-centered, and demonstrably lower impact—making it a strong fit for projects that demand both performance and proof.

Looking Forward

This first EPD is a milestone, not a finish line. It captures how Ekoa performs today while setting a benchmark for ongoing improvement across our product portfolio and our Sustainability Action Plan.

As we expand our offerings in wall protection, wall covering, and millwork alternatives to wood panels, our commitment remains the same: transparent data, rapidly renewable materials, and surfaces that work as hard as the spaces they protect.

What is Ekoa?

Made of rapidly renewable flax and plant resins, Ekoa is a high-performing, bio-based composite material that’s perfectly suited for gorgeous interiors and smart design. Certified Clean Air GOLD and Red List Free, Ekoa is natural wall protection and beautification with no trade-offs. Strong, stunning, and sustainable, the veneer-like sheets of Ekoa are a fit for even the most demanding projects, with impressive durability and impact resistance that make it suitable for walls, ceilings, millwork, product design, and automotive applications.

About Lingrove

Lingrove is the team behind ekoa. Our passion is creating ultra-sustainable, healthy, and high-performance materials for the built environment and automotive applications. We design and manufacture exceptional products, right here in the USA, that are good for people and the planet. For further information, please visit www.ekoa.design and contact us at hello@ekoa.design