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Setting Up ZeroWaste (AWS Cost Optimization)

ZeroWaste is CloudForecast’s cost optimization feature. It surfaces actionable recommendations to reduce waste across your AWS environment — including idle resources, rightsizing opportunities, Savings Plans, and Reserved Instance purchases.

ZeroWaste integrates with AWS Cost Optimization Hub, which consolidates recommendations from AWS Compute Optimizer and other AWS services into a single view. CloudForecast reads from this data to power your ZeroWaste dashboard and weekly health check reports.

What You’ll Need

Section titled “What You’ll Need”

Before setting up ZeroWaste, make sure you have:

  • An active AWS source already connected in CloudForecast (see Connecting Your AWS Account)
  • Access to your AWS root / payer account to launch CloudFormation stacks
  • (Optional) AWS Organizations set up if you want ZeroWaste coverage across sub-accounts

Part 1 — Enable AWS Cost Optimization Hub

Section titled “Part 1 — Enable AWS Cost Optimization Hub”

ZeroWaste pulls its recommendations from AWS Cost Optimization Hub. You need to enable this in your AWS account first.

To enable Cost Optimization Hub:

  1. Open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console
  2. In the left navigation, choose Cost Optimization Hub
  3. Choose one of the following options:
    • Enable for this account and all member accounts — recommended if you use AWS Organizations and want full coverage across all sub-accounts
    • Enable for this account only — if you have a single account or want to start with the payer account only
  4. Click Enable

After enabling, it can take up to 24 hours for Cost Optimization Hub to import recommendations for all your supported resources.

Tip: For the best coverage, also opt in to AWS Compute Optimizer. Cost Optimization Hub imports rightsizing and idle resource recommendations directly from Compute Optimizer.

What Cost Optimization Hub covers

Section titled “What Cost Optimization Hub covers”

Once enabled, AWS Cost Optimization Hub generates recommendations for:

  • EC2 instances (rightsizing, idle, Graviton migration)
  • EBS volumes (upgrade, delete)
  • Lambda functions
  • ECS and EKS tasks (Fargate rightsizing)
  • RDS databases
  • Savings Plans and Reserved Instances
  • Amazon Redshift, ElastiCache, MemoryDB, DynamoDB, OpenSearch, SageMaker

See the full list of supported resources in the AWS documentation.

Part 2 — Grant ZeroWaste Permissions in CloudForecast

Section titled “Part 2 — Grant ZeroWaste Permissions in CloudForecast”

ZeroWaste requires additional read-only IAM permissions beyond the standard AWS source connection. These are set up via CloudFormation.

There are two steps depending on your AWS account structure:

  • Step 1 (required for all) — Set up permissions on your root / payer account
  • Step 2 (required if you have sub-accounts) — Extend permissions to all sub-accounts via CloudFormation StackSet

To get started, go to Sources → ZeroWaste → Credentials in CloudForecast, then click See IAM Configuration Steps to reveal the setup instructions and direct CloudFormation links.

You can also review the full permissions being granted here: ZeroWaste CloudFormation Template

Step 1 — Root / Payer Account Setup

Section titled “Step 1 — Root / Payer Account Setup”

This sets up ZeroWaste permissions for your master payer account.

  1. In CloudForecast, go to Sources → ZeroWaste → Credentials
  2. Click See IAM Configuration Steps to expand the setup modal
  3. Click Launch Stack — you’ll be taken to AWS CloudFormation in your browser
  4. If prompted, log in with your root / payer account credentials
  5. Confirm the RoleName in the CloudFormation stack matches what’s shown in CloudForecast
  6. Check the box: I acknowledge that AWS CloudFormation might create IAM resources with custom names
  7. Click Create Stack
  8. Wait a few minutes for the status to show CREATE_COMPLETE — use the refresh button to check progress
  9. Return to CloudForecast and verify a green checkmark appears in the status column for this account

If you only have one AWS account (no sub-accounts), setup is complete. Skip to verifying your setup.

Step 2 — Sub-account Setup via CloudFormation StackSet

Section titled “Step 2 — Sub-account Setup via CloudFormation StackSet”

This extends ZeroWaste permissions to all sub-accounts in your AWS Organization. Complete this step if you have member accounts under your payer account.

  1. Log in to your AWS Console and navigate to CloudFormation StackSets: Direct link to CloudFormation StackSets

  2. Choose a template — Under Amazon S3 URL, paste:

    https://assets-cloudforecast-io.s3.amazonaws.com/cloudforecast-zw-setup.json

    Click Next

  3. Specify StackSet details:

    • Enter a Stack name and Description (e.g. cloudforecast-zerowaste)
    • Go back to CloudForecast → IAM Configuration Steps and copy the External ID shown there — paste it into the ExternalID field in AWS
    • Confirm the RoleName matches what’s shown in CloudForecast
    • Click Next

  4. Configure StackSet options — Add any tags if needed, then click Next

  5. Set deployment options:

    • Select Deploy to Organization
    • Choose your preferred AWS region
    • Click Next

  6. Review — Double-check that the RoleName matches CloudForecast, then check: I acknowledge that AWS CloudFormation might create IAM resources with custom names Click Submit

  7. Wait for CREATE_COMPLETE across all accounts — this can take several minutes when deploying across an organization

  8. Return to CloudForecast and verify the status column shows confirmation for each account

Verifying Your Setup

Section titled “Verifying Your Setup”

Once both steps are complete, go to Sources → ZeroWaste → Credentials in CloudForecast. Each account row should show a green checkmark in the status column.

If any accounts show an error, check that:

  • The RoleName in the CloudFormation stack matches exactly what’s shown in CloudForecast
  • The ExternalID was copied correctly from CloudForecast (it is unique to your account)
  • Your payer account has Cost Optimization Hub enabled

What Happens Next

Section titled “What Happens Next”

After setup is complete, CloudForecast will begin importing your Cost Optimization Hub recommendations. You can expect to see data in your ZeroWaste dashboard within 24–48 hours.

From there, ZeroWaste will surface:

  • Weekly health check reports — a prioritized list of waste and savings opportunities delivered to your inbox or Slack
  • Resource-level recommendations — rightsizing, idle resource deletion, Savings Plans, and Reserved Instance purchases
  • Cost group breakdowns — slice recommendations by team, service, or tag to assign accountability to the right engineers

Frequently Asked Questions

Section titled “Frequently Asked Questions”

Do I need to complete both steps? Only if you have sub-accounts. If you have a single payer account, Step 1 is all you need.

What permissions does ZeroWaste require? ZeroWaste requires read-only access to AWS Cost Optimization Hub data and related resource metadata. You can review the exact permissions in the ZeroWaste CloudFormation Template.

Does ZeroWaste work without Cost Optimization Hub? CloudForecast has its own optimization policies that run independently, but enabling AWS Cost Optimization Hub significantly expands recommendation coverage and aligns with AWS best practices.

How often are recommendations updated? AWS Cost Optimization Hub refreshes recommendations daily. CloudForecast imports the latest data each day, so your ZeroWaste dashboard reflects up-to-date findings.

Will ZeroWaste make any changes to my AWS resources? No. ZeroWaste is read-only. It surfaces recommendations for your team to act on — it never modifies, stops, or deletes any resources in your account.

If you need help, reach out to support@cloudforecast.io.