This guide maps the Vemcount sensor stack to the data points required by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and its climate standard ESRS E1, for commercial real estate and shopping malls. It answers one question honestly: can we instrument a real building well enough to support a CSRD energy & emissions disclosure? The short answer is yes for measured building data — with the right gateway and converter choices noted below.
ESRS E1 (Climate change) is the standard most real-estate operators report against under CSRD. The measured data points a building or mall typically needs are:
E1-5 Energy consumption — total energy use split by source: electricity, gas, district heating/cooling, and on-site renewable generation, in MWh.
E1-6 Gross Scope 1 emissions — direct combustion on site (natural gas boilers, gas heating). Derived from measured gas/fuel volume × emission factor.
E1-6 Gross Scope 2 emissions — purchased electricity, district heating and cooling. Derived from measured kWh × grid/supplier factor.
Energy intensity — energy per m² of floor area (real estate uses kWh/m²/yr), which is why accurate floor-area and sub-metering matter.
CSRD reporting also pulls in related standards a mall touches: ESRS E3 (water), ESRS E5 (resource use & waste), and the social/health dimension of indoor environment. Sensors below are grouped by which disclosure they feed.
Vemco provides the measured activity data (kWh, m³, litres, °C, ppm). Converting that to tCO₂e requires applying emission factors (grid, gas, refrigerant) inside Vemcount's ESG dashboard or your reporting tool. Vemco does not certify the emission factors — those come from your national grid mix and CSRD methodology.
This is the strongest part of the stack. Electricity is measured non-invasively and split per circuit, tenant, or zone.
Data point | Sensor | ESRS |
Main incomer electricity (single-phase) | CT101 / CT103 / CT105 (≤100 / 300 / 500A) | E1-5, E1-6 |
Main incomer electricity (3-phase) | CT3xx three-phase set (3 CTs, one per phase) | E1-5, E1-6 |
Per-tenant / per-circuit submetering | 1× CT per circuit (CT101/103/105 by load) | E1-5 intensity |
Lighting & appliance circuits | WS501 / WS502 smart switch (+kWh), WS51x socket | E1-5 |
CT clamps are self-powered and install on live wires without a shutdown — essential for occupied malls. Accuracy ±1% above 5A.
CSRD asks real estate to separately report on-site renewable generation and increasingly EV-charging load. Both are measured the same way as any other circuit:
Solar PV generation — CT clamp on the inverter output (CT103/CT105 sized to inverter rating). Reports generated kWh as a distinct stream for the renewable-energy line.
EV charging consumption — CT clamp on the EV charger supply, or pulse/Modbus read from the charger's own meter via UC300 (below). Lets the mall report EV load separately from base building load.
This was the historical gap, and it is closed with the right interface device. Gas boilers and district-heating substations are Scope 1 / Scope 2-heat and must be measured, but their meters rarely output a simple pulse — they typically speak M-Bus or Modbus RTU. The Milesight UC300 IoT controller bridges these to LoRaWAN.
Meter type | Interface | Device |
Gas meter with pulse output | Pulse (dry contact / reed) | EM300-DI pulse counter |
Gas / heat meter (M-Bus) | M-Bus (EN 13757) | UC300 (M-Bus interface) → LoRaWAN |
Heat / energy meter (Modbus RTU) | RS485 / Modbus RTU | UC300 or UC50x (RS485) → LoRaWAN |
District heating substation | M-Bus / Modbus | UC300; or a dedicated M-Bus bridge for large meter banks |
The UC300 reads heating energy (Wh), volume (m³), flow temperature, and return temperature directly from the meter and forwards it to Vemcount over LoRaWAN. For a substation with many M-Bus meters (e.g. per-apartment or per-tenant heat), a dedicated M-Bus concentrator that handles multiple unit loads on a 2-wire bus is the cleaner choice; the UC300 suits one or a few meters per location.
Confirm the meter's interface before quoting. Ask the customer (or check the meter label) whether the gas/heat meter outputs pulse, M-Bus, or Modbus. This determines whether you need an EM300-DI (pulse) or a UC300 (M-Bus/Modbus). Getting this wrong is the most common cause of a stalled Scope 1 deployment.
Mains water consumption (pulse meter) | EM300-DI pulse counter |
Water meter (M-Bus / Modbus) | UC300 → LoRaWAN |
Tank / reservoir / rainwater level | EM500-SWL submersible, EM400-UDL ultrasonic |
Leak / water-loss detection | WS303, EM300-SLD (spot), EM300-MLD (membrane) |
Malls report waste tonnage and diversion. Sensors measure fill level and collection frequency, which supports the operational side of E5 (collection optimisation, contamination/combustion alerts) but does not weigh waste directly.
EM400-TLD — small indoor bins (ToF, fill + lid + combustion)
EM400-MUD — large/outdoor bins & compactors (ultrasonic, 10yr battery, IP67)
Honest limit: fill-level sensors give volume and frequency, not weight in kg/tonnes. For the tonnage figure ESRS E5 wants, combine sensor collection data with the waste contractor's weighbridge tickets.
CO₂, temperature, humidity | AM103 (1 per 100–150m²) |
Full IAQ (CO₂, PM2.5, PM10, TVOC, HCHO/O₃) | AM307 / AM319 |
Outdoor / perimeter CO₂ | EM500-CO2 |
ESRS data point | Coverage |
Electricity (Scope 2) | ✅ Full — CT10x / CT3xx / WS50x |
On-site solar & EV charging | ✅ Full — CT clamp on inverter / charger |
Gas & district heating (Scope 1 / heat) | ✅ With UC300 M-Bus/Modbus converter (or EM300-DI for pulse meters) |
Water (E3) | ✅ Full — EM300-DI / UC300 / level sensors |
Waste volume (E5) | 🟡 Volume & frequency only — tonnage needs contractor data |
Indoor environment (Social) | ✅ Full — AM series |
Footfall / space intensity | ✅ Full — Xovis / Milesight / TDI (core) |
Emission factors → tCO₂e | 🟡 Vemco supplies activity data; factors applied in dashboard/reporting tool |
Refrigerant leakage (Scope 1 fugitive) | ❌ Not measured by sensors — from maintenance/refill logs |
Electricity | CT3xx on main incomer (3-phase) + CT101/103 per tenant/circuit; CT on PV inverter & EV chargers |
Gas / heat | UC300 per boiler/substation (M-Bus or Modbus), or EM300-DI if pulse |
Water | EM300-DI or UC300 on main meter; WS303 / EM300-SLD in wet areas & plant rooms |
Air quality | AM103 per 100–150m²; AM319 in client-facing zones |
Waste | EM400-TLD (indoor) + EM400-MUD (compactors/outdoor) |
Connectivity | 1× UG65 LoRaWAN gateway per floor/zone → ttn.vemcount.app UDP 1700 |
All measured data flows into Vemcount's ESG dashboard for energy-by-source, kWh/m² intensity, water, and IAQ trends, with historical export for the CSRD disclosure file. See also Milesight IoT sensors for ESG reporting and Expanding your solution.
Planning an ESG deployment? Use the Sensor & Solution Advisor (ESG path) to get a sensor list and quantities from the building's floor area, main supply type, number of sub-circuits, and meters. For a CSRD-scoped survey contact support@vemcogroup.com.