A system and method for active disturbance rejection based thermal control is configured to receive, at a first active disturbance rejection thermal control (ADRC) controller, a first temperature measurement from a first thermal zone. The ADRC controller generates a first output control signal for controlling a first cooling element, wherein the first output control signal is generated according a first estimated temperature and a first estimated disturbance calculated by a first extended state observer (ESO) of the first ADRC controller.