He was appointed to the position in January 2015 and retired in December 2016.

Among other responsibilities “for delivering SCP (sustainable construction and production)”, the office was responsible for mainstreaming Resource Efficiency, and Sustainable Consumption & Production (SCP) policies at all levels, in particular through responsible industry and cities management. He has launched and supervises various initiatives and partnerships (buildings, tourism, cities). He also coordinated the preparation and is supervising the implementation of the only operational issue that was explicitly adopted in The Future We Want at Rio+20, the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on SCP.

Arab Hoballah was Chief of Sustainable Consumption & Production (SCP) in UNEP (2005-14). The division promotes resource efficiency, and sustainable consumption and production patterns, under the framework of the Marrakech Process, as well as relevant policies and tools, and capacity building via national, regional and global roundtables. This is achieved through a series of sectors such as water and energy, buildings and cities, tourism and mining, manufacturing and cleaner and safer production, food and education.

He spent 14 years working in the UNEP Regional Seas Programme as the Deputy Coordinator of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP). He was also responsible for the Secretariat of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development; he was the Deputy Director of the Blue Plan, one of MAP's Regional Activity Centres (1991-98); and worked for several institutions with World Bank projects in developing countries.

He was appointed Executive Director of SEED, a global partnership for action on sustainable development and the inclusive green economy in March 2017. Founded by UNEP, UNDP and IUCN at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, SEED is based in Berlin and supports innovative small-scale and locally-driven entrepreneurships around the globe which integrate social and environmental benefits into their business model.

Arab Hoballah completed a Masters of Economic Tools & Prospective Analysis and a Masters of Law & International Relations at Université Panthéon Assas (Paris II) before undertaking a PhD in Economic Development at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.

Arab Hoballah was a member of the Concluding panel of experts and co-presented a case study “Motivating stakeholders to deliver change” in the workshop Stimulate stakeholders – With incentives to implementation at the 3rd International Holcim Forum 2010 in Mexico City. He was a member of the Concluding panel of experts at the 5th International Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction dedicated to “Infrastructure Space” held April 7-9, 2016 in Detroit, USA.