In recent years, “impact” and “ESG” have become two of the most frequently used, and most frequently confused, terms in the world of sustainable investing. Yet they represent fundamentally different concepts. Conflating the two can lead to misguided decisions, superficial assessments, or portfolios that fail to align with either an investor’s values or their long-term return goals.
To take the appropriate course of action, investors need clarity. They also need data they can trust.
High Quality Data, Transparent Methodology
This is precisely why Ziggma chose ACA Ethos, one of the industry’s most rigorous and transparent impact data providers, to power its Impact Scores and impact analytics. With close to 600 metrics, daily controversy monitoring, and rigorous quality controls, Ethos provides the foundation for a new standard in individual investor transparency.
This article explains the key differences between impact investing and ESG, why those differences matter, and how Ziggma leverages Ethos’ methodology to give investors a true view of what their capital is supporting.
Impact and ESG Are Not the Same: A Fundamental Distinction
Impact: A Measure of Outcomes
Impact investing focuses on how a company affects the world – its contribution to solving problems such as climate change, ocean health, income inequality, affordable healthcare, access to clean water, or gender disparities. It asks:
“What positive outcomes does this company create for people and the planet?”
Impact is fundamentally outcome-based. It describes how a company’s products, services, operations, and innovations drive beneficial change in society or the environment. It rewards companies for progress, intentionality, and measurable real-world improvement.
ESG: A Measure of Financial Risk
ESG, by contrast, is a risk management framework. It evaluates how environmental, social, or governance factors may affect a company’s financial value.
ESG asks:
“What could go wrong that might impact this company’s profitability, valuation, or cost of capital?”
ESG focuses on controls, oversight, risk exposure, and the potential for liabilities—pollution fines, labor disputes, supply-chain risks, cyber breaches, board independence, or governance failures.
Why the Difference Matters for Investors
Understanding the distinction matters for three reasons:
1 – The two approaches often highlight different companies.
A firm with robust risk controls may excel at ESG but have minimal positive societal impact. Conversely, a company building climate solutions or medical breakthroughs may experience ESG “risks” related to growth, scale, or emerging markets. Yet it delivers transformative impact.
2 – Using ESG as a proxy for impact creates false signals.
Many investors want to support positive change. ESG data alone does not tell them whether a company meaningfully contributes to global sustainability challenges.
3 – Portfolio construction looks different depending on the lens.
A risk-driven ESG strategy might prioritize operational stability.
An impact-driven strategy prioritizes measurable outcomes and alignment with global goals.
Ziggma’s goal is to give investors the clarity to distinguish between the two—and to pursue both return and impact with confidence.
The Ziggma Approach: Real Impact Data, Not ESG Proxies
To create a credible, outcome-focused impact assessment, Ziggma partnered with ACA Ethos, a data platform trusted by institutional asset managers and known for its methodological rigor.
Rather than relying on broad claims or self-reported narratives, Ethos provides:
✔️ 600+ independent metrics
✔️ Daily monitoring of global controversies
✔️ 80+ impact and ESG-risk topics
✔️ Data from disclosures, NGOs, regulators, academic bodies, and licensed sources
✔️ Fully transparent, repeatable scoring methodologies
This allows Ziggma to bring institutional-grade impact analytics to individual investors, without the opacity, inconsistencies, or greenwashing that often accompany traditional ESG products.
A Multi-Layered, Global Process to Collect and Maintain Data
Ethos aggregates and updates data across hundreds of metrics, sourced from:
✔️ Corporate sustainability reports and regulatory filings
✔️ Government agencies and public registries
✔️ NGOs and independent organizations
✔️ Third-party licensed datasets
✔️ Automated scraping of media outlets worldwide
✔️ Manual analyst investigation for credibility and context
All data flows into ACA Ethos’ secure cloud-based platform, where it undergoes rigorous monthly validation before being incorporated into ratings.
Daily Global Controversy Monitoring: A Key Component of Integrity
Impact cannot be measured without accounting for negative outcomes. ACA Ethos operates one of the most sophisticated controversy monitoring systems in the industry – an essential foundation for Ziggma’s Controversy Exposure insights.
ACA Ethos monitors global media sources multiple times per day across major markets.
The partnership with ACA Ethos enables Ziggma to present investors with a precise, unbiased view of how negative events may influence the real-world impact of their holdings.
Transforming Data Into Ratings: 80+ Topics That Capture Real Impact
Ethos organizes data into more than 80 topic-level ratings, spanning themes such as:
✔️ Climate Action
✔️ Gender Equality
✔️ Health & Wellbeing
✔️ Public Health
✔️ Biodiversity & Natural Resources
✔️ Water & Sanitation
✔️ Innovation & Information Access
✔️ Inclusive Economies
✔️ Human Rights & Corporate Conduct
Each topic incorporates 30–60 carefully weighted metrics, normalized and benchmarked across peers and global datasets.
Ziggma uses these ratings to build intuitive, investor-ready Impact Scores that reflect true outcomes – not ESG checkboxes.
What Ziggma Users Gain: Clarity, Credibility, and Confidence
By combining Ziggma’s clean design and intuitive analytics with Ethos’ rigorous data engine, investors gain:
1. Clear differentiation between ESG risk and real impact
Investors know whether a company is building a better world, or simply mitigating risk.
2. Deeper transparency into company behaviour
Daily controversy monitoring exposes both positive contributions and harmful actions.
3. Alignment with global climate and sustainability goals
With analytics such as global warming alignment (°C) and climate solutions exposure.
4. Portfolio-level visibility
Ziggma aggregates impact data across all holdings, showing alignment, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
5. Better long-term investment decisions
Impact and return are not mutually exclusive. The combination of Ziggma analytics and ACA Ethos data helps investors pursue both.
Conclusion: A Higher Standard for Impact Transparency
Impact and ESG are not interchangeable. One measures outcomes, the other measures risks.
Most investors unknowingly receive ESG data packaged as “impact”- a mismatch that can confuse intentions and obscure what their capital truly supports.
Ziggma brings a new level of clarity by partnering with ACA Ethos to deliver accurate, transparent, outcome-focused impact insights.
The result is an investing experience that empowers users to understand not only how their portfolio performs, but what it contributes to the future.
A better world is built through better decisions—and better decisions require data you can trust. With Ziggma, investors finally have access to both.